Subway traditionally rounds off the year with a series of interviews underthe name ‘Het Jaar Van’. Conversations with people for whom the past year wasvery special in one way or another. We close with someone who ‘was there’, butalready completely. Cycling commentator and analyst Roxane Knetemann became amuch-loved and valued talk show face Inside today.
Cycling enthusiasts have of course known Roxane Knetemann for a long time.Especially as the voice of the women’s races at the NOS and for years as acyclist with world championship medals in team time trial around her neck. Andalso as the daughter of Gerrie Knetemann, the world champion who diedunexpectedly in 2004. 2022 was the year for Roxane Knetemann. She also becamea voice and face in men’s cycling in the Tour de France ( Subway talked toher about it this summer) and at the table The Evening Stage by Dione deGraaff. She ran her first marathon. Stopped as a pedagogue and race coach withjunior team TalentNED. Frequently joined Wilfred Genee, Johan Derksen and Renévan der Gijp Inside today from SBS6. And… went down on the knees for herWim.
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The Year 2022 of…
Four articles can be read this week in Subways The Year Of :
Roxane Knetemann is fun and disarming
One way or another, every piece of news about Roxane Knetemann catches on_Subway_ appears, really eaten. Readers and TV viewers find her fun, disarmingand also ‘fresh’ because she doesn’t blow with all the winds. The sportsenthusiast and fanatic who grew up in the Zaan region is the most surprisedabout this, but she simply says what she thinks. Time to video call Terwispel,the village near Heerenveen where she lives with the love of her life, ex-cyclist Wim Stroetinga. Before she opens the laptop, she has just finished anice walk with the dog through the Frisian countryside.
“It has become a fast year, in which a lot has happened,” she kicks off. “Manythings depend on coincidences, I must say. Very nice coincidences, such as mysudden presence in VI which makes me happy to look back on 2022. Insidetoday called at the end of February to come and talk about the start of thecycling season and without thinking about who actually called I said ‘yes,that’s fine’. That has opened doors. The NOS naturally has its regular cyclingfans. But to Inside today so many people are watching that I became betterknown to a large audience in one go. Only my Instagram account grew in notime already in the tens of thousands. I don’t think Instagram is the realworld, but it does say something about being seen on TV.”
Roxane Knetemann at the table
Subway articles about Roxane Knetemann are, as previously reported, reallyeaten. Even an announcement message about being in Inside today would sit atthe table between the gentlemen instead of at the bar in the evening, had beenread tens of thousands of times before she actually sat at the talk showtable. “To be honest, I wondered what exactly my role would be at the table,”Knetemann admits. “After all, I talk about cycling and I want to do it verywell. I think we finally tied the knot on animal day and I sat at that table.But geez, is that news? People do make it a little bigger than it is. Thereare much more important things in the Netherlands and the world when it comesto news.”
But in the meantime, Roxane Knetemann has been called ‘a rising star intelevision land’. “It doesn’t feel uncomfortable. To be honest, it makes me alittle impatient, because I would like to do a lot more. What I at Insidetoday do, I like it very much. But my heart is with my work at the NOS, Imake no secret of that. I want to do a lot more there. Learning everything andknowing much more than I know now. At the NOS they say it takes time, but yes,I am such an impatient person and want so badly. The impatience is also in myanalyses. I can still grow into that.”
More time for the sports summer
What kind of year 2022 did Roxane Knetemann actually expect, when it was stillJanuary? She laughs, because the turbo year makes it seem like an eternityago. “I worked as a pedagogue and at Team TalentNED. I thought that in 2022 wewould completely set up the cycling team with the young girls and give it abroader foundation. In January I already had some doubts about my position andwasn’t sure if I would continue to do it in the form I had then. However, Inever expected to hand in my contract at the end of May because I wanted tosee what the media had to offer me. By canceling my contract, the sportssummer was given free rein. Join The Evening Stage and a Belgian channel andcommentary on the Tour de France for women were already there. But then muchmore was added, such as men’s cycling.”
Roxane Knetemann: a wonderful 2022. Photo:ANP / Olaf Kraak
Contradiction in Today Inside
Roxane Knetemann is excellent at commenting on NOS, but – as it turned outthis year – her role in Inside today. What makes that click with Genee,Derksen and Van der Gijp? “I can only speak for myself, but at least the menat the table are well disposed to me. Why is that, well… At least I’m justmyself, don’t play anything and even contradict them sometimes. The menappreciate the way I do that. You know as well as I do that if they don’t likeyou and don’t like you, you’re going to have a really hard time.”
“I’m really not pushy, but if I really disagree with something, I’ll reportit. Or ask a question. What I like about the program is that it goes so fast.On the one hand, that is a pity because you only get a short speaking time,much too short of course haha, but it does go nice and fast. I love that andgo well with that chop on the branch of Inside today. Coming home there atthe table is perhaps a bit too strong a word. But the program is very close tomy own way of thinking. That does make it easier.”
“I never expected to hand in my contract at the end of May because I wanted tosee what the media had to offer me.”
Johan Derksen’s candle incident has of course already been discussedextensively this year. Was Roxane Knetemann equally afraid that the programwould no longer exist shortly after she took office? “To be honest, I neverthought about that. I also ended up there by chance and still as sober as Ialready was. My thought was ‘that it could just be over’.”
“Of course I really want to create something sustainable, but I am sorealistic that something can just be over. Then that’s it and I’ll find myrole again. Probably something else will come your way. I understand thequestion, because Inside today opened doors for me and made me more visible.I didn’t aspire to the latter, by the way, not at all. But I did come intocontact with other people through the program. It resulted in new assignments,but that is also done by the NOS. And with assignments you fill your fridge.But fear then Inside today would stop? Again, absolutely not. And you don’thave any control over it at all. I just try to do my job the best I can.”
Roxane Knetemann’s refrigerator
That refrigerator in her kitchen was, according to Roxane Knetemann herself,well stocked until mid-October. “Sometimes there was Inside today of courseand I spent a lot of time preparing for the Amsterdam Marathon. But especiallythe sports summer with the Tour de France, the European championship and theVuelta of the NOS was busy. You get up early and go to bed late and need toknow all the current events. Those were particularly long days on which youhad to be sharp all the time. Yes, it was spicy. With four hours of TV workyou are busy for twelve hours in one day. In September I did the World Cup inAustralia, which was in the middle of the night. I can deal with that prettywell, but it didn’t bother me, I found out. That marathon was coming up andyou have to train for that. And training for quite a long time, I can tellyou, haha. If VI there is also an occasional interlude where you need to beaware of the news…”
In October, Roxane Knetemann slowed down a bit (although: she walked more than42 kilometers in the capital and went along with the TV program The MostDangerous Roads ). She realizes that her fridge is not stocked like theaverage Dutchman does. “I live more in peaks and meanwhile follow everything.At the moment – we are now in December, ed. – I have my low season. Novemberwas very quiet and I can tell you that the walls are closing in on me now.Cycling will only start again from the end of February. I would love to have ajob in education again, but that is not possible because of cycling. Thenpeople can’t count on me. I’m trying to find some balance now. My friends alljust work, I can’t meet them. I was brought up with the idea that work iscertainly not dirty and that you have to work hard to get results. Sitting onmy lazy ass is not really something that I have done, but I am now. It soundsvery spoiled, but the past month has been a bit of a difficult period for me.I was looking for a bit of rest, but that didn’t work out.”
Roxane Knetemann during her cycling career.Photo: ANP / Koen van Weel
Suddenly in the hospitality industry
Roxane Knetemann talked about it with friends. What would they do in hersituation? Her step was surprising, a step to Joure: “I entered into a zero-hours contract in the hospitality industry, nice out of the box. Serve alittle? Great, then I’m busy. It’s always nice to have a kind word forsomeone.” What do people actually think of Roxanne Knetemann bringing themcoffee? She laughs. “Nothing. Frisians are very sober, aren’t they? People arefriendly, no fuss. I actually don’t mind it at all. Maybe the customers thinkit’s me, but they don’t say it. I don’t even realize when I walk there thatpeople could recognize me. I just do what I have to do.” She would also liketo play a pedagogical role for children in sports. “But there are no vacanciesfor that. I offer myself to this one. If someone emails you, just forward it,haha.”
Marathon and marriage proposal
Back to the Amsterdam Marathon, another highlight of the year 2022. RoxaneKnetemann completed it in 3 hours, 13 minutes and 52 seconds. It was quite abirth. “I learned a lot from that and I didn’t see my friend – Wim Stroetinga,ed. – much through it. As former top athletes we are used to that, but still.After cycling, we thought of it a little differently. We have agreed to dothis differently in 2023. Grab some more moments together. The marathon wastough and weeks later I still haven’t got my running rhythm back and I’mactually still not recovered. Everything people say or write about a marathonis true. The recovery time, the breaking down, the thought of never doing thisagain: it’s all true. And then you will find out the next day where you couldpossibly run the next marathon. The saddest part was that I didn’t reallyenjoy it. It was so heavy that I never really walked well. It was too much,also due to a small injury to my hip. In any case, the fact that I didn’tenjoy it makes it certain that I will do a marathon again.”
Roxane Knetemann did something else remarkable in her special 2022. She> didn’t wait for Wim to ask her to marry him, but went down on her knees> herself. The couple is getting married in October. But how did that go?> Typical Roxane Knetemann: “Not romantic at all. Just in our living room, in> between the companies. It happened last summer, while before the Tour de> France I had already postponed it three or four times. There was always> something in between, lack of time haha.”