Maaike
Boogaard

Maaike's Bio

Maaike Boogaard joined AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step for the 2023 and 2024 seasons. The 23-year-old Dutch rider already has extensive experience racing at World Tour level and hopes to make the next step in the next two seasons.

Boogaard comes from the northwest of the Netherlands and hopped on a race bike when she was only seven hyear young. Since then she has decided to never stop cycling and started her pro career with BTC Ljubljana in 2017 as a trainee after a successful period with the juniors. The older she got, the more competitive she became and the more she discovered that she could achieve great results. In 2022 she got her first professional victory in the Omloop van Borsele. She also finished 15th in Gent-Wevelgem and 19th in the Tour of Flanders. She was eighth in the general classification of the Bretagne Tour and Festival Elsy Jacobs.

“I have already done many races and got a lot of experience. It would be great to share things like positioning, nutrition or how to achieve goals together and really lift each other up to a new level. It’s also important to share that we should all be enjoying this cycling life and the races,” Maaike says with her eternal smile.

“My biggest dream is to win a big spring classic myself. I see myself as a good allrounder who does well in those classics and in time trials. I think I have a positive attitude to life and like a good laugh but next to that I am a disciplined rider and a hard worker for the team.”

Sports director Christian Kos, who hails from the same part of the Netherlands as Boogaard, sees great potential.

“Maaike is a rider with a good head on her shoulders. She is driven and knows exactly what she wants. She has proven in the previous years that she is a versatile rider but I think the cobbled classics suit her most. She is also racing aggressively and is not afraid to suffer. All those rides with headwind around the Ijsselmeer make you strong,” he adds with a smile.

After five seasons within the same team structure, Boogaard is looking forward to the change and the new opportunities she will get with this team led by Natascha den Ouden.

“I really like the drive and enthusiasm you see in both the riders and the staff of AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step. They ride as a unit to get the best possible result. I personally look forward to sharing my experiences with the younger riders but also to learning from the older riders that will join. I want to keep developing myself and with this team I get the opportunity to do this with the staff and facilities they offer.”