Laurens Hitman

The bicycle is a red line in my life. Like many Dutch people, I learned to cycle at a young age and experienced many aspects of it since. To secondary school in all weather, as a student on a half broken bicycle through Utrecht and as a bicycle commuter in and around the city.

I have also been doing recreational and sport cycling for a long time. I cycled through many parts of Europe and cycled through North America for a year. I also cycled competitions and at the moment I am regularly on the race, mountain or gravel bike. I often cycle on a touring tandem with my wife Els.

Cycling and writing is a good combination for me. After the start of the Tour de France in Utrecht, I had the opportunity to make a book: ‘Utrecht, hart van fietsend Nederland’. In the period before the Vuelta start in Utrecht, I made the book ‘Cycling Utrecht / Utrecht ís Cycling Together’ with Kasper Hanenbergh.

In my role as Program Manager for Cycling Stimulation at SportUtrecht, it is my mission to help as many Utrecht residents as possible experience all the benefits of the bicycle. Maximizing the social return of major cycling events (Giro, Tour, and Vuelta) for our cycling program and that of partners is what I passionately work on every day!