Mauro Schmid signs with Deceuninck-Quick-Step: A lot of guys here get the chance to go for a win
Nov 13 2021 05:33 am CET
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Deceuninck-Quick-Step has announced the signing of Swiss rider Mauro Schmid.
The 21-year-old made his move to the WorldTour level in 2021 with Qhubeka-NextHash and after a season in which he won one stage at the Giro d'Italia, he's ready to take the next step. The rider -that has also done mountain biking and cyclocross- has a set of skills that made him an all-rounder with potential to achieve important things.
"I learned something from every discipline," said Schmid. "Definitely, the CX training and racing helped me a lot to learn how to handle my bike and how to avoid crashes. Becoming a pro was still quite a big step, as before I was working full time. I worked 40 hours per week, and then I trained in the evening. I was a car mechanic. In Switzerland, it's quite common to combine work and school. Then you get your degree, and you can choose another business if you want. But my parents own a car dealership, so for me it was a logical step. I rolled into it, and I was interested in cars. When I turned 16 I had to choose if I wanted to keep on studying, I wasn't really motivated to do so.
"Now when I look back it also helped, as I had a tough time working and training, but I still competed well despite the lack of training hours. I did like half of the training hours of other guys my age. I stopped working at the end of 2019, and then I went to the army for four months, but most of the time we were training there, and we had some other responsibilities.
"Now, coming to this team is a dream that comes true. I have a lot of memories from watching the Classics as a kid and seeing this team always perform. It's about this mentality of always trying to win and this squad that holds together so strong. Here it's really all or nothing and a lot of guys get the chance to go for a win. I really want to integrate well in the team and make another step to being more consistent in my performances. Winning another race would be amazing of course. Getting good results with your teammates also brings me a lot of joy. It's as nice as winning by yourself, experiencing this is really something I'm looking forward to."
