Eli Iserbyt embarks on a new adventure in mountain biking: “Riding the same laps in the summer is not really motivating”

The 24-year-old rider of Pauwels Sauzen–Bingoal finished third at the World Cup this season and won the final classification of both the World Cup and the Superprestige. In addition, Iserbyt is also ex-world champion with the promises and former European champion with the elite.

But there is more to the life of a professional cyclist. Mathieu van der Poel, Wout van Aert and Tom Pidcock prove that, and so Iserbyt also wants to taste other ways.

“I don’t have a view on my road program yet,” said Iserbyt, who rode the Baloise Belgium Tour and Tour de Wallonie last year, among others. “We are still working on that, to look at a combination of disciplines. For looking for other stimuli, such as mountain biking. But nothing is 100% certain yet. I don’t know what level yet. I don’t have any experience with it either, so it’s going to be a bit of a search. The intention is to participate in a World Cup, to see how things are there.”

Iserbyt wants to temper expectations, however. “I repeat: I have no experience in mountain biking. In the descents I am a layman, so it will be a bit of fine tuning. But I do want to discover myself in that, to do just that little bit more. The basis of our team remains Continental and then it is difficult to add a lot of things. That’s why we’re trying to make it harder this year than usual. That mountain bike itself has not been playing in my head for very long. It can also help to improve my technique, because it’s not great yet. And therefore also to go away from the same pattern in the summer: Tour of Belgium, Tour de Wallonie…”

“You always have to train more and more, but to always do the same rondekes you are no longer really motivated. And I’m only 24 years old, so it’s early to feel that. So this is ideal for discovering something new and hitting a wall again,” says Iserbyt at Sporza.