Auke is the junior road champion of Belgium. In just 28 race days this season, she earned five wins and five more podiums.

“I’m very happy and very excited to race with EF Education-Oatly,” Auke said. “I never expected this. I thought maybe I would be on a small team and get better and then maybe a few years later, a team would recognize me. It’s turning out a bit differently.”

At 18 years old, Auke’s development is just beginning. She’s earned promising results in both sprint finishes and classics, including top 10 placings in the junior editions of Gent-Wevelgem and the Tour of Flanders this year.

“I’m a sprinter for now and maybe also a classics rider but I don’t know it yet. I'd like to become a classics rider. Those races are really nice with some cobbles and small hills. That suits me, I think. I’m a sprinter but I have the power to get over the punchy climbs,” she said.

For Esra Tromp, general manager of EF Education-Oatly, it was an easy decision to sign Auke.

“Auke joined our Mallorca camp at the start of the season and it was clear right away that she was a great fit on and off the bike,” Esra said. “There’s no telling what kind of a rider Auke will become. She’s been remarkably consistent in her two years as a junior which tells me that she knows tactics and is a smart racer. When you couple her ability to read a race with her raw power, it makes Auke a really exciting rider to watch.”

Auke credits her older brother with getting her interested in cycling a decade ago.

“It was fun,” Auke said about her first races. “I was beating the boys but I never thought that I should become a racer. I made a lot of friends. Everyone was really friendly.”

Auke’s love of cycling grew all the more when she took up track racing.

“My dad showed me the track and I immediately wanted to race on it because it was in the winter and if I took up track, it meant I didn't need to train or ride outside. It was more fun than riding outside in the Belgian winter. It’s very cold!” she laughed.

Her road skills transferred seamlessly to the track where she is the current Belgian junior national champion in the omnium, elimination, points race, Madison, and 1000 meters, and won silver in the scratch race at the junior world championship. Now that Auke is joining EF Education-Oatly, she is planning to focus on the road and wind down her track racing.

For 2026, Auke’s goals are equally modest and ambitious.

“I want to learn step by step. I won’t start with too many big races, probably mostly UCI 1.1 races so I can grow a bit and try my sprint. It would be nice to have that winning feeling again. My goal is just to learn and do my best helping the team. I think the team believes in me. That’s everything I need.”

Welcome to EF Education-Oatly, Auke!