Team Jumbo-Visma – manifesting Dutch pride

The Team Jumbo-Visma, which has existed for almost 40 years, is one of the most popular road cycling teams in the world. The ambitions were high from the very beginning, as the team already held a ProTeam license when it was founded.

The Dutch team was founded in 1984 by Jan Raas, himself a celebrated sprinter in the 1970s. After a 10-year professional career, he moved from the saddle to the seat of sports director for the original cycling team Kwantum, which has developed into today’s Team Jumbo-Visma. He also brought the long-time main sponsor Rabobank on board — for almost 16 years! During that period the team was actually called Rabobank, later Rabobank Cycling Team. After several sponsor and name changes, the Dutch supermarket chain Jumbo joined in 2015 and remains one of the main and namesake sponsors to this day.

The three most prominent riders of the successful team

A look at the team roster reveals a remarkable number of national champions.

Most recently, Primož Roglič won the Slovenian road race championship and Wout Van Aert took the Belgian time trial championship. It’s the mix that makes the difference: from young guns like Pascal Eenkhoorn, a rouleur who keeps everyone on their toes, to experienced all-rounders like Paul Martens and Maarten Wynants, who bring tactical finesse and a cool head. The team also performs more than respectably across the Grand Tours — the Tour de France, the Giro and the Vuelta. The riders are not only strong as individuals; they also function extremely well as a group — not an easy task with so many strong personalities.

1. One rider who clearly stands out is the aforementioned Primož Roglič. The former ski jumper began his professional career in 2013 with Adria Mobile and, after quick successes at the Tours of Azerbaijan, Croatia–Slovenia, Slovenia and the Tour of Qinghai Lake, moved to Team Lotto NL-Jumbo. He is expected to remain with Team Jumbo-Visma at least until 2023. The team is clearly set up for him to succeed — visible in numerous stage wins and excellent GC results. His greatest achievement to date is likely his overall and points classification victory at the 2019 Vuelta a España. Despite a forced break due to COVID-19, he picked up seamlessly in 2020 with the Slovenian road title. A stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné fuels hopes for the Tour de France 2020, as do his two stage wins at the previous year’s Tour and his 4th place overall in 2018. Only his condition after a heavy crash at the Dauphiné could throw a wrench in the works — that same race also forced teammate and nominal third leader Steven Kruijswijk to abandon early. Here, Roglič forms a dual spearhead with Tom Dumoulin, as the team aims to realize the dream of the yellow jersey around these two captains. With his striking but successful blend of climber and time trialist, this leader has huge surprise potential.
   
   
2. For Tom Dumoulin, this is his first season with Team Jumbo-Visma. He brings a wealth of victories and palmarès to the Dutch top team. Speaking of the Netherlands — Dumoulin has collected several national titles over his career, including the time trial championships of 2014, 2016 and 2017. He has also shown a clear profile at the big races like the Vuelta a España, the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France. In his roles as a rouleur and captain, he can both set the tempo for Roglič’s tactics at the front and keep breakaways in check. His path has been somewhat longer than that of his much-praised teammate. He started as a talent at the Rabobank Development Team — the feeder outfit of the original Team Jumbo-Visma. After a longer spell with today’s Team Sunweb (2012–2020), he returned to a Dutch setup. His tactical instincts have already delivered noteworthy successes on the mountain stages of the Giro, Tour and Vuelta. However, his limited participation in the 2019 Grand Tours and the current pandemic could also put a small dent in his prospects.
   
   
3. Another experienced rider at Team Jumbo-Visma is the German Tony Martin. He celebrated his first successes with the Thüringer Energie Team during the 2006 and 2007 UCI Europe Tours and became U23 champion in both the mountains and the time trial. From there he moved to the former T-Mobile team HTC-High Road. During that time he won several Grand Tour stages. Martin became world champion and German national time trial champion. From 2012 to 2016 he rode for Etixx-Quick Step, where he repeatedly underlined his class with multiple world and national titles. He also significantly increased his tally of stage wins and added several overall victories. His results in team time trials especially highlight Martin’s strengths as a very team-oriented rouleur.
   
   

The Jumbo-Visma Development Team additionally nurtures young up-and-coming talent. As early as 2002, a development squad was set up under the name Rabobank TT3. Big names in cycling — and current Team Jumbo-Visma riders — like Robert Gesink and Bert-Jan Lindeman were given a platform to grow into the professional ranks. In 2020, the team was relaunched as the Jumbo-Visma Development Team with a UCI Continental Team license. The Development Team presents a wide range of riders with good to excellent results at road and time trial championships as well as European Championship participants. We’re excited to watch them develop!

Tour de France 2020 — fully devoted to the yellow dream

For the Dutch cycling team Jumbo-Visma, one thing is clear: one of the two captains must bring home the yellow jersey. To make this goal a reality, the team relies on individually strong riders — which presents some immediate challenges.

The preliminary roster:

• Primož Roglič (Overall winner Vuelta a España ’19)
• Tom Dumoulin (Giro d’Italia 2017 — overall winner)
• Wout van Aert (Winner Milano–Sanremo ’20 & Strade Bianche ’20)
• Tony Martin (Multiple world & national TT champion)
• Robert Gesink (6th at TdF ’15)
• George Bennett (TTT winner TdF ’19)
• Amund Grøndahl Jansen (TTT TdF + Norwegian road champion ’19)
• Sepp Kuss (Overall winner Tour of Utah ’18)
• Paul Martens (Overall winner Skoda-Tour de Luxembourg ’13)
• Antwan Tolhoek (Stage winner Tour de Suisse ’19)

First, the various egos must be aligned to dedicate themselves to this goal and to assist accordingly. In addition, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the team had limited opportunities to gain race rhythm together, which could make cooperation and unconditional commitment a major challenge. The planned triple leadership of Roglič, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk has also been reduced due to injury — a bitter loss, as the Tour-experienced Kruijswijk finished 5th in 2018 and even 3rd in 2019. For Roglič, the Critérium du Dauphiné also became a stumbling block when he had to abandon after a crash — particularly bitter as he was leading overall and it was the 10th and final stage. Although he stated he felt fit again for the Tour start, a slight question mark remains.

His Dutch colleague Dumoulin is still carrying knee issues from last season. The few Grand Tours he raced could also mean a lack of race sharpness — something he couldn’t fully address due to the current situation. Naturally, there’s also the question of an internal leadership duel — there can only be one number one.

If the two captains manage to coordinate with each other and the team, they will be supported by excellent climbers in George Bennett, Sepp Kuss and Robert Gesink. With 11 Tour starts and 5 stage wins, Tony Martin can also provide powerful assistance as a rouleur. The currently very successful Wout van Aert is a superb all-rounder for any terrain. After his blistering start to the 2020 season, he’s definitely one to watch — his sprint strength can undoubtedly propel Team Jumbo-Visma forward at the Tour! Sprinter Jansen can launch a final attack in the closing meters. As reserves, Martens and Tolhoek are on standby.

The potential is huge, but the weaknesses can’t be ignored. The constant rivalry with Ineos Grenadiers, BORA-hansgrohe and Deceuninck-Quick Step — featuring Tour favorite Julian Alaphilippe — will make this Tour exciting down to the very last second.