Jumbo-Visma to take three leaders to the Tour de France

Ever since Tom Dumoulin joined up with Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk at Jumbo-Visma, fans have been wondering who would lead the team at next year’s Tour de France. Eurosport reports that they’ve gone down the Movistar route and plan to take all three of them.

“The goal is definitely to win the Tour,” said Dumoulin at the team presentation. “Full on, with three leaders. It was very nice to find out that all three of us are on the same page.”

Explaining the team’s plan, sporting director Merijn Zeeman said: “We have made an analysis of the last five years of all grand tours. What is the influence of the time trials on the final classification? What was the composition of the team that was able to conquer and defend a jersey?

“We found a common thread in that. We have to go to the Tour with the strongest possible team. Then we’ll have a chance to win.

“We’re going to do everything we can to conquer the yellow. We are very happy, proud and motivated to do so. I also think the supporters of Team Jumbo-Visma will think this is really cool.”

Kruijswijk, who finished third in this year’s Tour, commented: “We want to win the Tour as a team. You do that with the strongest riders possible.

“Look at who we can line up, with Tom, Primoz and myself as leaders. I think we can fight with these guys.”

Vuelta winner Roglic added: “Our goal is to win the Tour. I want to be part of that. I definitely want to be in that team.”

Somewhat bizarrely, the team also announced the rest of its 2020 Tour team, which, barring injuries, will comprise Wout van Aert, Tony Martin, Laurens De Plus, Sepp Kuss and Robert Gesink.

That means no spot for sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, who won stage seven of this year’s Tour. He will instead look for stage wins in the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a Espana.

The Dutchman adopted a phlegmatic tone. “You prefer to ride all three grand tours every year,” he said. “But I also have to look at what suits me best. Where do I have the best chances?

“There are a lot of chances in the opening stages of the Giro. We pretty quickly realised that I should ride the Giro. And the Vuelta, starting in the Netherlands. Four years ago I joined the team and then I said that I want to win in all the grand tours. It will be a very nice year to do that.”