Huub Artz tied his future to the structure of Jean-François Bourlart for the next two seasons. The 21 year old Dutchman, member of Continental Development Team Wanty-ReUz-Technord since 2024, will turn professional in the ranks of World Team Intermarché-Wanty, as he signed a contract from January 2025 until at least the end of 2026.
Since his arrival in the Walloon structure in 2024, Artz has been regularly selected for pro races and immediately distinguished himself at the highest level with his offensive race style. This temperament was rewarded with a podium in the queen stage of the Tour of Oman, crossing the top of Green Mountain in third place behind Adam Yates and Jan Hirt after a long breakaway.
As a specialist for the classics, Huub Artz also set up breakaways in service of the team such as in Le Samyn, playing a role in the victory of his leader Laurenz Rex. On Sunday, March 17th, wearing the jersey of Wanty-ReUz-Technord, he achieved a second podium of the season in the Dorpenomloop Rucphen in an atypical way. After a 60 kilometer breakaway, neutralised by the peloton, he participated in the bunch sprint and climbed on the second step of the podium.
Huub Artz thus becomes the fourth rider of Wanty-ReUz-Technord to be promoted to World Team Intermarché-Wanty. He follows in the footsteps of Francesco Busatto, Alexy Faure Prost and Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, who all three turned professional in January 2024 after a season in the Development Team led by Kévin Van Melsen.
“I have quickly noticed progression since my arrival at Wanty-ReUz-Technord. I haven't radically changed my daily routines, but I did slightly increase my training volume. My new trainer Adriaan Helmantel knows exactly which workload I can handle to maximise the effects of training and develop my physical abilities. Thanks to this structure, my childhood dream of becoming a professional cyclist has become an increasingly realistic goal in recent months. I was very motivated, I wanted to make an impression from the first team camp with Intermarché-Wanty. I was lucky enough to share a room with Boy van Poppel, who gave me valuable advice in many aspects and somewhat tempered my youthful enthusiasm. Boy is one of the many experienced team members from whom I have learned a lot. After the team camp, I also surprised myself during my first race with the World Team, the Tour of Oman. It was a very special moment to start the final kilometer of the queen stage in the lead and to finish on the podium. It goes vey fast with my development, but I keep both feet on the ground. I can only praise the structure for the way they fostered my development since day one. That's why I really wanted to continue my career with Intermarché-Wanty and keep growing together."
“The step up of Huub Artz to our World Team demonstrates once again the quality of our development structure. Huub convinced me last season with his attacking style, his intelligence and positioning skills. Also, I noticed his meticulous character in our conversations, in terms of equipment or in the study of his position for example. He has acquired solid foundations in his previous team, and is now showing continuous progression thanks to our professional coaching in training and nutrition. I am not surprised that he follows a similar rapid evolution within our structure such as Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, one of our last year U23 riders in 2023. He immediately made a strong impression during our training camps and his first race of the season in Oman. I am convinced that he will translate his physical progression into promising results in the most prestigious classics in the U23 category in April: Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Ghent-Wevelgem. He also showed qualities in the role of team captain alongside our younger riders thanks to his maturity and his calm temperament. This is only the start of his development, we have a good idea of his potential and how we are going to exploit it."
“Huub Artz followed our approach to talent development, in particular the example of Roel van Sintmaartensdijk, and that's why he has chosen to join Wanty-ReUz-Technord last summer. His confidence in the functioning of our structure is now rewarded by rapid progression and a first professional contract. During the training camp with the World Team in January, we were very impressed by his progression. Also during the races we observed a lot of positive things. Not only in terms of results with two great podiums, but also by his presence alongside our pros in the final of the Belgian classics. With his big engine and his positioning qualities, Huub can become an asset in our team for the classics. He also has qualities for climbing and sprinting. We are convinced that Huub Artz will continue to surprise. Several teams coveted this talent and we are particularly happy that he has chosen to continue his development with Intermarché-Wanty. For 2024, we will stick to the combined program that we defined this winter. He will participate in the most prestigious classics in the U23 category and in the Scheldeprijs and the Brabantse Pijl with the World Team, as well as in stage races such as the Tour of Norway and the Giro Next Gen. In this way, he can become stronger alongside our pro riders in the World Team and at the same time get the most out of his last season in the U23 category with the Devo Team."
