Nicolaas Arnolds started his cycling career at DavideNalbandian. Manager David noticed the talent of Nicolaas but wasn’t able train him so he decided to sell him to another team. By selling Nicolaas to gwk he thought Nicolaas would be able to develop his skills and become a good rider but he was mistaking. Gwk wasn’t interested in training Arnolds but figured he could make some profit out of him by selling him again to another team. A public bidding was held and manager Onie became the winner and signed Arnolds for $45.000, this is the point where it all began for Arnolds.
During his first full season at Onie he already won two races while he still was in training. In the second full season he finished training and began riding races at a higher level because of the successes of the season before. Arnolds had a hard time to adjust to the higher level and was only able to win one race....
Read moreNicolaas Arnolds started his cycling career at DavideNalbandian. Manager David noticed the talent of Nicolaas but wasn’t able train him so he decided to sell him to another team. By selling Nicolaas to gwk he thought Nicolaas would be able to develop his skills and become a good rider but he was mistaking. Gwk wasn’t interested in training Arnolds but figured he could make some profit out of him by selling him again to another team. A public bidding was held and manager Onie became the winner and signed Arnolds for $45.000, this is the point where it all began for Arnolds.
During his first full season at Onie he already won two races while he still was in training. In the second full season he finished training and began riding races at a higher level because of the successes of the season before. Arnolds had a hard time to adjust to the higher level and was only able to win one race. In his third and fourth season he proved he could score at a high level even though he wasn’t the best sprinter around. In his fourth season he even won the second division classic Mito-Tokyo and a stage in Cymru Taith.
In his fifth season at Onie, Nicolaas had its best season. He won two stages in the Volta ao Porto and scored four other top nine finishes during that Volta which was enough to secure the SC jersey. The seventh and the eight season at Onie where disappointing. Arnolds suffered from multiple injuries and wasn’t able (because of that) to perform at the highest level in Top Division. This bad strike ended in the Nederlandse Tour a season later. Arnolds scored a third place in the prologue and became fifth in the GC. The eight season at Onie was entirely devoted to recharging top form and entering Fast on Wheels. When team failed to sign up for Fast on Wheels Nicolaas wanted to end his career. The team convinced him to continue and to look for other goals. Perm became his goal, he won the SC and became fourth in the GC.
A season later, his tenth fully later at Onie, the team succeeded in signing up for Fast on Wheels. A part of the OCM History was written. Onie was the first team to compete in all eleven active tours and Arnolds was the first rider to do so. Nicolaas Arnolds also known as Mr. Grand Slam.
Netherlands