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into the first turn. He had the inside line followed by Jelle van Gorkom who also passed me on the inside… Niek Kimmann tried to pass me in the second turn, but luckily I was steady as a rock, so he crashed. I slowed up a little bit, but I was still in 3th position. Jelle had a weird crash in the last turn. Fortunately I could just avoid Jelle and sprint to the finish line for 2nd place! I felt pretty happy to be on the podium, but more important “feeling confident on the bike”!

One week later we had the European Champs in Erp, at my hometrack. They say it’s my hometrack, but I’m never there because I basicly also train at Papendal. My club did a really nice job on the hole setup during the Euro Champs, so big shoutout to the organization! I was in great shape, because my performance 1 week earlier at the Dutch Champs was good. Somehow my body didn’t felt strong in Erp. Still don’t understand why, but my legs felt really heavy and slow during racing. Mentally I stayed positive and every race seem to feel better. Unfortunately in the semi final I was on the wrong side going into the first turn. Some France guy slowed me down and I didn’t had enough power to fire back after slowing down! Because I stayed positive duo my body that didn’t feel to great during racing, I was not disappointed big time. For sure I like to give my home crowd a better show, but I made the best of it!

After the Euro Champs we had a small break for one week. Did some training at Papendal to prepare myself for the World Champs in Zolder, Belgium. Also got my new Meybo bike. No changes beside the 2016 frame colors/ striping. Really like the new bike! I felt good during practice at Papendal and also in Zolder just before the race! It had been a real stressful couple of weeks also. Because I knew I had to make top 8 at the World Champs to keep my salary, which makes me able to do what I love the most “riding my bike”. Last Friday we had the World Champs time trial. My first lap was okay, but not perfect. Top 16 guys had to race the Super Final. I got 12th, so happy to do another time trial lap. This one had to be faster to make top 8. Finally the difference between the top 16 guys was so small (less then 1,5sec). I was in the hot seat for a while, but at the end I was satisfied with 7th place.

Saturday, the big race: A complete different day with bad weather forecast! The organization had the change the time schedule and decided not racing the big Supercross starting hill because of the heavy wind gusts. We had like 10min training to get used to the small starting hill just before racing started. There was no time for thinking, just do it… I won my qualification run, from there on racing got intense with many fast riders and some big crashes. My quarter final was a tough one, with 4 other team mates! When the gate dropped the speaker called us the “Dutch Train” because we we’re in 1,2,3,4,5th position. Unfortunately one rider had to eliminated. I made it through, together with Niek, Jelle and Twan. The semifinal was a bit bumpy, but I got 4th and qualified myself for the final. My goal was to make the final, so I was happy, but when I walked up the starting hill a knew a podium finish is possible. My start was to aggressive, because I hit the gate with my frontwheel and almost went over the bar. I had to start behind the rest of group, but I was able to close the gap. 2 guys crashed, unfortunately I couldn’t make a pass on anybody so I got 6th place at the World Championship. It felt like a win to me after a long road with physical and mental struggles duo injuries and personal things…

Huges thank to my coach, team, staff, medical team, sponsors, friends, family and fans who kept having faith in me! Congrats to my teammates Niek Kimmann and Jelle v Gorkom with 1st and 2nd place! #TeamNL #roadtorio

-Raymon van der Biezen