He is a three-time all-around world champion and already has four Olympic medals in his closet; three silver and one bronze. Not a bad track record for a 26-year-old, but Patrick Roest is clear: “To really win the awards I want to win, I have to go one step further.”

The eliminated Nils van der Poel, who trumped him in the games at both five and ten kilometers, no longer bothers him. Still, Roest felt the need to start the new Olympic cycle in a different environment.

Coming back to the step he needs to take, Roest says, “I wasn’t sure I was going to be successful at Jumbo.”

“This is the perfect moment”

So he moved to Reggeborgh after seven seasons under Jac Orie at Jumbo-Visma. There, Roest hopes to win individual gold at the World Championships and Olympic gold in Milan for the first time in four years.

“It was hard to say, ‘I’m going. After all, you worked with the same people for seven years. it’s the perfect time.”

See below a report on Patrick Roest in Inzell, southern Germany:

Reggeborgh, head coach Gerard van Velde’s formation, was set up as a sprint team, acquired middle-distance riders over the years and, as of this season, also has an all-round branch, with Roest as its main asset.

Less data, more talk

Van Velde himself did not want to concentrate on training all-rounders. That responsibility rests with Robin Derks.

Roest is very satisfied with the cooperation. “I really like the way he works. Actually very personal. Very different from Jac, who did it for science.

“I don’t think we’re going to do anything crazy, it just wasn’t what he was used to,” says Derks of training sessions with Roest. “Skating is an emotional sport. With the data below you can confirm this feeling. I believe a lot in the personal part because it differs from day to day.”

Roest: “The team at Jumbo was much larger and they paid much more attention to the data. Reggeborgh’s personal approach just suits me very well.”

“Nice to express your feelings”

“Now you can just talk about how skating is going after and during each training session. The skating on summer ice was less and then we just sit down for a while. Finding out what could have gone wrong makes it a little less like expressing his feelings. And then it’s also nice that action is taken immediately if it doesn’t feel right.”

To an outsider, this may sound like nothing more than normal. “That’s true, but that was often something different with Jumbo,” says Roest. “Not completely different, because on the whole you might be doing the same thing. It could be details that have changed a bit. And where you have to take the profit.”

Roest’s first win of the season came at his very first race, at NK for Clubs, the annual ice club competition. Roest rode an unofficial world record over 3,000 meters for STV Lekstreek in Thialf: 3.36.80.

“I don’t care about this record, but I was happy that I set my best time ever at the start of the season. That shows that the level is good, then you have confidence for the upcoming games and the next season.

For example, after a summer Roest goes into a new environment in the ice skating winter, which obviously does him good. But it was also a summer of worries, as the son of a dairy farmer has not been spared the concerns farmers in the Netherlands have over the government’s nitrogen targets.

After his ice skating career, Roest repeatedly saw himself taking over his father’s company. “That’s still conceivable, but whether it’s also habitable … it’s being made very difficult. I don’t need to get rich from it. If I just pull through, I’ll be happy for a long time.”

“It scares you a bit,” says Roest. “Because that’s what you dream about and see your future in. When I’m done skating, I’d just love to do that. If that’s no longer possible because of such rules, it’s just very annoying and sometimes that makes you a little angry. But you can’t control it.”

Lap of honor with inverted flag “not intended”

Also on his father’s farm, as on many farms, the Dutch flag was hung upside down to protest the government’s policies. But even doing a lap of honor with an inverted flag after a title on the ice is taking Roest too far.

“You also have people in the audience proudly looking at the flag. You don’t want to hurt those people by driving through a full Thialf with a flag up.”

“I understand that the farmers did that, but I’m not supposed to do that. I’m just trying to tell my story about how I see my future, and then the best way is to just talk to the media and let you know how things are going for us and for me.”