Klik hier voor een artikel uit "Wielerrevue" over martijn en de voorbereiding op het NK 2011 in Ootmarsum
Team Type 1's Martijn Verschoor Gets PEZ'd!
Tuesday, May 31, 2011 9:54:02 AM PT
by Alastair Hamilton
It's hard enough being a Pro cyclist, but to also be a Pro cyclist with type 1 diabetes and compete with some of the best rides in the peloton is quite an undertaking. Due to a chance meeting I heard all about the trials and tribulations of an athlete with Type 1, and it left me with a lot of admiration!
The other day I was taking my car for its yearly wash when I spotted a cyclist coming into the garage. He looked the part, but why would a Team Type 1 rider be here in Spain at this time of year? He left his Colnago outside so I thought I could make a joke about it being stolen, like when the team lost 25 bikes in Italy at the Coppi e Bartali, this broke the ice and making contact through Facebook was easy enough to set up a meeting with Martijn Verschoor in the seaside Mecca for training cyclists; Calpe.
We settled into the Tango bar/café, which is his favourite place to take in the sights and use the Wi-Fi. "I love this place!" Martijn repeated, and I could see why.
PEZ: You are on a ProConti team and you have diabetes, how do you manage to race and train at that level?
Martijn Verschoor: When I was young I started skating and I was diagnosed with diabetes when I was 14 years old, then I became interested in cycling, so I went from speed skating, which is a short distance, maybe 2 to 5 minutes and it's not a problem for the diabetes, to cycle racing at over 80K's and you can have problems. You burn more energy, you can have more stress, the change in the weather, the speed and intensity is very difficult with diabetes, and the best way to cope with this is a lot of training and testing on your fingers (of the blood), and the more you test the more you know how you react. I now use this machine, the CGM (Constant Glucose Monitor), you can see it on our TT1 web-site, it's a sensor on the arm and it tells how you are with your sugar. In a race it's perfect, you can see if the sugar is good or not good, if you need to eat or not eat, it's a great guide to control your diabetes like this.
PEZ: Would you wear the CGM every day?
Martijn: No not every day, in races yes, but I know my body well after 14 years of diabetes, so today I didn't wear it for training. I know how my body will react to 5 hours training, today I checked 3 or 4 times and it's OK. But if you need to do something different, like get up early or travel, like spend a day on an aeroplane or if you have one intense day (training) and then an easy day followed by another intense day or altitude, well, they can all affect you differently so it's good to wear the CGM then.
PEZ: So travelling can be a problem?
Martijn: Yea, like on the aeroplane I have to check more. Your body needs a little insulin to burn sugar, so I have the 24 insulin and the short action also, so when I have a little sugar, in my coffee for example, I get a little reaction, but maybe I don't need to take any insulin, if I'm between the level then it's OK. I have this all day, every day, its 24 hours a day, if I have a bad day then I can't sleep if the sugar is too high or too low, it's like a roller-coaster.
At this point a Mariachi band came through the cafe! But we carried on as best as we could.
PEZ: Have you ever got into a big problem when racing or training?
Martijn: No Big problems. But there are some people have big problems, they black out, I've never had that, but I've had a big hunger flat that lasts maybe 1 or 2 hours. The other problem can be when I have eaten too much in the morning and I have taken my long lasting insulin and at the start, after 5K's, you go down, down, down and it's too late and your race is over. It has happened to my twice, it was before I had the machine, these are new, about 2 or 3 years and its expensive to buy if you are not a professional. Then you had to guess a little and I preferred to be a bit high with sugar in the legs, because you don't want a hunger flat then it's over, but you do have bad legs. The kidney takes it out, so you need to pee a lot.
In the team car they carry an emergency syringe in case it was very bad and you would need to be injected, if you went so very low. I've never needed it.
PEZ: Do you eat a normal diet?
Martijn: Yes, and sometimes an ice cream! In 40ºC after 6 hours training you can eat everything. But sometimes you get too high in the race and then you have to inject 1 or 2 units and then you go down.
PEZ: What about sports drinks and energy bars?
Martijn: I have the same as any anyone, maybe I mix the energy drink with a little more water and I drink more water that other (normal) riders. With the electrolyte the sugar goes up and also with the bars, so I eat a little slower.
PEZ: You have lived and cycled with diabetes for a long time now so you know how your body reacts?
Martijn: Yes, there are much worse diseases than diabetes, I can take part in sport and I have a normal life, I just have to remember, I always have to think ahead.
PEZ: Does anyone else in your family have diabetes?
Martijn: Only my Grandfather, just in the last 3 or 4 years. As people get older they get Type 2 diabetes which is more dangerous that mine. You can have Type 2 and not feel it and every day it's getting higher and before you know it you are in trouble and your organs are going bad!
PEZ: You have to inject during a race sometimes, which must be difficult?
Martijn: Sometimes, but if the race slows up then I can do it. The problem can be if the race slows up then I go high, take an injection and come down and that can start the roller coaster and that can get out of control. I need to start with my sugar in a level situation; I can't start on the roller coaster.
PEZ: Do people ever comment on you taking injections?
Martijn: People get the wrong idea when they see you injecting before a race, but I think it's a good idea to let people see you injecting, maybe they say bad things about it, but when they find out more about diabetes and they see me race then they think; "oh! It's possible to be an athlete with diabetes." In the case of Type 1 diabetes it is impossible to live without the injections of insulin, we have the exemption form (TUE) from the UCI for insulin and being on a ProConti team we have the bio passport also.
PEZ: What is on your race programme for the year?
Martijn: I started in South Africa with a small (10 day) stage race, before that to India and then to Belgium, then after this (in Spain) I go to the Tour of Turkey. Then after Turkey we will decide if I go to California or I do a different race. California is a now big race for the team, because it's an American team and there are lot of people want to see us winning and the American riders all want to ride in California. We don't do the Giro d'Italia this year, which was the 1st plan, now we have the 2nd plan and that is to do a good ride California. It's a very important race, maybe too important for me, I know I'm ready for the shorter races, they might be better for me.
PEZ: Your are from Holland, but you list your address on Facebook as Cumming, Georgia, where do you live?
Martijn: I did live in America, I'm back in Holland, but last year I lived in Georgia. I finished my studies in Holland as a gymnastics teacher and I was racing well, the team said "come to America and do a racing programme, first ride some smaller races and see how it goes," I now have a two year contract! I'm 24 and to go to the US it's a new World from Europe. Some great times and not many bad ones.
PEZ: You have also ridden in Africa a lot, what's that like in comparison to Europe?
Martijn: I rode in Rwanda in October; it was a hard race for the end of the season. I rested a little after that, and then went to South Africa. It was their National Championships the week before and in Rwanda there were these steep climbs of 16% and 20%, we were not in the best condition for these races, but it was more for awareness of diabetes for the people there, it's a small project, but it's getting bigger. It was very interesting to see how the country is trying to improve from what it was like years ago. The Tour of South Africa was a beautiful race, but all the races were all well organised and the hotels were good. Its great riding between elephants and the mountains!
PEZ: You come to Spain quite a lot and go to Africa and you lived in America, so when are you ever in Holland?
Martijn: Well... this year only two and a half weeks! This year I have been here (in Spain), then Africa and India and then back here again, then Turkey and then maybe California (I hope) and now in Belgium they are training in the rain!
PEZ: So how can you put any address on your Facebook? You don't live anywhere!
Martijn: Err..No. But that's the life of a cyclist!
PEZ: Where you in Italy when the team bikes were stolen?
Martijn: No I was in Belgium, but to replace those bikes is very hard because Colnago sells many bikes and you need a lot of new bikes and from Shimano you need all those parts and they all need building. Have you seen our Facebook page, lots of photos of the bikes there!
PEZ: Team Type 1 is very international; are there any problems with say language or anything?
Martijn: The team has two languages; English and Italian. Italian is a little like Spanish, so I can manage. But there are riders from the Ukraine and a Manager who is Russian and another that is Italian; it was a little problem maybe at the beginning. When the team is in Italy it's mostly an Italian team, so...I can speak Italian a little bit and some Spanish so I'm OK.
PEZ: There are some riders who are not diabetic on the team this year...
Martijn: Yes, but we are not just Team Type 1, there is also a triathlon team and Team Type 2 and a woman's team and also a development team and running etc. They want to have one or two riders every year to move up the Pro team from the development team and the development team is diabetes riders only. One day there will be a diabetic rider in the ProTour, but you need very good riders in the ProConti level also. We had good riders last year, riding big races in Europe and everywhere. The team signed Laszlo Bodrogi, Rubens Bertogliati and Alexander Efimkin (recent winner of the Tour of Turkey) who are not diabetic; I hope they don't get diabetes! The Spanish rider on the team; Javier Mejias Leal, is diabetic, he rode for ProTour team Saunier-Duval for three years, so it's possible.
Martijn in Turkey
PEZ: What about the team sponsor?
Martijn: The team sponsor is a pharmaceutical company and some people frown at that, you know what I mean, but the team is all about diabetes riders. It's very hard for us, I always have the heavy legs, and I have to rest more than a "normal" rider. In the team it's important to win, but it's more important to be healthy, you win today or you don't...it's OK...well tomorrow is a new challenge; I think in the other teams with the big sponsors they have a lot of pressure. We show the World we have diabetes, we do our thing and that's good.
PEZ: You would be crazy to take drugs?
Martijn: Our team is like family, if it collapsed, that would be it. Insulin is stable on its own, but with other medication it changes and would be dangerous for me, even caffeine. It would be very dangerous; you would not have the same feelings. If I take alcohol it possible that I wouldn't realise I was getting low on sugar, then during the night your sugar would go very low.
PEZ: Do you think you would be a better rider without diabetes?
Martijn: It's my life! But say we were at the same level and we both wanted to get to a high level (in cycling), I need to do more work to keep to the same level as you and to rest more than you. I also have to do my blood testing and I have to think ahead more, it's possible, but with more work. People sometimes say maybe I've got an advantage in the race because I get a lot of sugar, but if I have a lot of sugar then I need to inject, so I come back down again. I always have worse legs than everyone else.
PEZ: What kind of rider are you?
Martijn: I like the single day races, the Classics. Not because of the diabetes, but I like to think each day is a new challenge. The stage races are good, I like them too, but at the moment I want to do everything, I love the Classics and I like the stage races, I'll have them both! I can climb, but I'm a sprinter and I like the cobbles. In the Netherlands you ride more Classics and not so many stage races. I'd love to ride the Worlds and Milan-San Remo and also Paris-Roubaix and Flanders.
PEZ: Would riding a long stage race be a problem, like three weeks at the Tour?
Martijn: No not really, you can look at it from two sides. One there is more travel and changes etc. but also you are in a controlled environment with everything organised well. You get your bottle and your food at the right time; I don't think it would be problem.
PEZ: And the future, Holland, America...Africa?
Martijn: I definitely want come back here (Spain)! I like nice weather, but it's nice to go home too, I have many friends in the Netherlands. I went to University in Holland to learn to be a gym coach and love to see people getting better. I'd love to be the best coach, but I need to specialise and study, maybe 10 years more cycling and then who knows.
Life is for living!
Martijn Verschoor is living with diabetes and it's not getting in the way of his wish to be a Pro cyclist. He has bad legs all the time, but he has the hunger to succeed. He impressed me! Check out the Martijn Verschoor web-site.
I'll buy the ice-cream next time Martijn.
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Tour de Mumbai II UCI 1.1 |
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By Staff |
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Date: 2/13/2011 |
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Tour de Mumbai II UCI 1.1 |
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Tour de Mumbai II UCI 1.1 Robbie Hunter Wins in India for second 2011Team RadioShack Victory Ian Wilkinson 4th and Ian Bibby 5th brought the count to three British rider in the top five. The race was animated by a break of nine who held off the RadioShack and Liquigas led peloton looking to set up the sprint finish for McEwen and Viviani winner of Mumbai I.
The escapees weakened in the final ten km but it wasn't until the final 5 kilometers that the last optimist was hauled back. Unfortunately not long after RadioShack fast man Robbie McEwen flatted with 3 km to effectively putting him out of the game for the win. The race came down to a mass sprint with Liquigas, RadioShack, Motorpoint and Team Type 1 sprint trains leading into the final kilometer. Elia Viviani jumped first but it was 35 year old South African Robbie Hunter who jumped by Viviani to deliver the win to his new team. For Hunter it is his first win of the season, his first since taking two stages in the Tour of Murcia in 2010; it is the second for RadioShack.
Team RadioShack “It was harder than expected,” said Team Director Alain Gallopin. “We planned to put one of our riders in a breakaway, but that didn’t work. Finally there was a long breakaway of nine riders with none of our riders, so we had to chase. With five riders at the start, and saving McEwen and Hunter for the sprint, we had to do the chasing job with only three riders. Liquigas helped with three riders too, but all other teams refused to help. We only brought back the last guy with 5 km to go. Bad luck for Robbie McEwen again. His flat tire was our only flat tire of the day, but it came again at the wrong moment.” “I had to lead out the sprint for Robbie McEwen as he was second in the first race and there were overall points up for grabs in the points classification with nice prize money,” continued Robbie Hunter. “Robbie really wanted to win the first race and with his flat tire it didn’t work out. Today it was the same story, so he will start in his next race with a real big motivation. It’s just a question of time. McEwen’s next race will be the Tour of Sardinia. I will start in the Ruta del Sol and Paris-Nice,” Hunter concluded. Robbie Hunter was surprised at the level of the races in India: “Especially the race in Nashik, it was a pretty good and long race. Today it was a circuit race in the city of Mumbai, which is of course hectic, but the police and the organization did a good job. Obviously it is a long way to come for two one-day races but it turned out really good. It was good racing.”
Bazzana was followed by teammates Alexey Shmidt in 11th and Andrea Grendene in 14th out of more than 75 classified finishers. A stray pedestrian who wandered into the peloton delayed the race initially and sent race organizers scrambling to alter the distance and course. Once the action resumed Verschoor slipped away with eight other riders and built up a lead of more than 50 seconds. ProTour teams Radio Shack and Liquigas sent riders to the front of the chasing peloton to bring down the gap. “Martijn saw an opportunity after about 20 km of racing and he took it, and that was the break that stuck the longest. Our strategy was to have him for the finale with Andrea, Alexey and Fabio, with Joe in the early action, but bike racing is chess, not checkers, and if you’ll pardon the mixed metaphor, we played the cards we were dealt today,” said Director Sportif Michael Carter. Team Type 1 - sanofi-aventis rider Fabio Calabria finished 22 seconds back alongside teammate Joe Eldridge. “This was a circuit race on paper, but a criterium on the ground, and so the guys just hung together at the finish and took their chances with the sprint. RadioShack burned a lot of matches to bring back Martijn’s group, and in the end they only had one guy left in the race. Liquigas was in the same boat, and when the bunch came to the line our guys went for it. It didn’t end as we wanted, but with Martijn in 13th we had four guys in the top-20 today. We still have some work to do, but these six riders are showing signs that their form is coming together. Martijn in particular has shown a lot of maturity in his racing style and fitness here in India,” Carter said. Alessandro Bazzana , from Bergamasco, Italy, said the week in India was an eye-opening experience. Eldridge, Verschoor and Calabria are type 1 diabetic athletes, and must monitor their blood glucose constantly, injecting insulin periodically to control their diabetes.
“It was hard at first to adjust to the heat, the travel, the time off the bike for transfers. But the motto we use is ‘check and correct’, and so the diabetes control before, during and after a race is as important as any other part of preparation,” said Verschoor. Type 1 diabetes is a disorder of the pancreas that stops the body’s natural production of insulin. Team Type 1 began when Eldridge and fellow type 1 cyclist Phil Southerland decided to field a team of diabetic athletes to compete in the Race Across America in 2004. Southerland and Eldridge succeeded in building Team Type 1 into a record-setting squad of RAAM champions, and have gone on to create an organization of more than 100 athletes competing in triathlons, marathons, and cycling events for men and women. For 2011 Team Type 1 - sanofi-aventis has expanded its professional cycling team, receiving a UCI Professional Continental license and taking on a deeply experienced squad of riders to race a full European and global calendar. Six of the 21 pro riders have type 1 diabetes.
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Raymond Kool
Freelance journalist
Vragen aan Martijn Verschoor over de Montepaschi Strade Bianche:
- 1. Het was de eerste keer voor jou. Je had vast al iets over deze koers gehoord. Met welke gedachte ging je van start?
Ik had de filmpjes op aanraden van een vriend op Youtube gezien en deze koers trok meteen mijn aandacht. Het is een jonge, unieke koers en toch al eentje met een korte indrukwekkende historie. Zo hebben de grote Italiaanse helden uit het verleden op deze wegen in Toscane getraind. Zelf ging ik vol goede moed van start en probeerde ik zoveel mogelijk voor de ploeg(Team Type1) te betekenen, aangezien dit een perfect parcours voor Rubens en Jure was.
Het parcours en de geweldige entourage waren fantastisch.
- 2. Je schreef op je website dat je de hellende witte wegen super mooi vond. Wat vind jij zo mooi aan deze wegen?
Als je op de onverharde wegen afrijdt dan liggen de secties er glooiend bij en zie je de top van de volgende heuvels cq bergen al liggen. Ook als je de foto’s bekijkt zie je dat de meeste wegen glooiend omhoog lopen en dat ziet er mooi uit.
3. Je schreef ook dat het lastig was. Wat is er specifiek lastig aan die grindwegen?
De onverharde wegen waren van grind en soms super lastig om te beklimmen(tegen de 20% bergop ) en er zaten secties van 15km onverharde weg in. Soms lag het grind los op de weg en dan is het moeilijk om uberhaupt op je fiets te blijven zitten. Verder betekende het dat je jezelf goed moest positioneren om je plekje te handhaven in het peloton. Daar kwam bij dat je ook moest afdalen op onverharde wegen en dat is ook vrij lastig aangezien iedereen de aansluiting probeert te houden met de voorsten. Buiten dat stond er nog een stevige wind en dat maakte van de koers een ware slijtageslag.
- 3. Je twitterde dat je moest uitwijken voor een crash aan de voet van een steil grindpad en dat er zelfs renners moesten lopen. Kun je wat meer vertellen over dit moment?
Na de verzorging werd er vol gas gereden tot aan de voet van een nieuwe sectie grindwegen.
De eerste klim werd vol doorgetrokken en de afdaling was lastig en daar werd risico genomen om weer terug te komen. Zo kwam er op ongeveer 140 km een valpartij onderaan de afdaling en daar zat ik net achter. Daarna ging het weer omhoog en daar was het moeilijk om weer in het ritme te komen, want het grind lag los op de weg en zo slipten daar de auto’s en konden een paar renners niet meer op hun fiets komen en moesten het laatste stukje omhoog lopen.
5. Vind je het parcours van de Montepaschi Strade Bianche net zo heroïsch als dat van de Ronde van Vlaanderen of Parijs-Roubaix en waarom (of waarom niet)?
Daar kan ik niet over oordelen aangezien ik nog nooit de Ronde van Vlaanderen en Parijs - Roubaix heb gereden. Deze koersen zijn ook gelijk de grootste klassiekers die je met deze koers kan vergelijken. Maar je kan aan het deelnemersveld zien dat veel renners grote waarde aan deze klassieker hechten. Zelf hoop ik dat deze koers nog lang blijft bestaan, want ik ben er nog lang niet op uitgekeken.
6. Vind je de Montepaschi Strade Bianche een echte klassieker of gewoon een voorbereidingskoers op de Tirreno en de voorjaarsklassiekers?
Deze koers kun je niet zien als voorbereiding op de Tirreno of de voorjaarsklassiekers. Daar is hij inmiddels te beroemd, te zwaar en te heroïsch voor; kijk maar naar de deelnemers, het parcours en de erelijst.
Klik hier voor een artikel uit "Wielerrevue" over Martijn tijdens de ronde van Rwanda.
uit; Het Dagblad van het Noorden 21-02-2011
uit; Smildeger Neiskrant van 22-02-2011
