First the Giro, then the Tour, and now the Vuelta. The Grand Tours this year have been dominated by Jumbo-Visma. Retired cyclist Tom Dumoulin, who previously competed with the Dutch team, isn’t necessarily happy about it, as he told the Dutch channel NOS.
“I don’t expect to see much of that in the future. At least, I hope not,” he said to NOS about Jumbo-Visma’s season. “For cycling fans, we’ve had more exciting Vueltas and more thrilling Grand Tour seasons. We didn’t see much battle. It was a rather uneventful, strange week.”
“I hope other teams have really woken up,” Dumoulin added. “Now everything is falling into place for Jumbo-Visma. This whole season, this Vuelta. It seems to me that it will continue like this for many seasons. If you look at history, at the top sports teams from the past, you’ll see that things go well for a few years and then…”
“Perhaps at some point, riders will leave, or perhaps other teams will genuinely make progress, for example, in the area of nutrition, which really elevates them to the same level. But for now, it looks very good for Jumbo-Visma.”
What sets Jumbo-Visma apart?
What does Jumbo-Visma really do differently from other teams? “That’s a good question. They have a huge vision and a goal in mind for where they want to go. They work in a very structured way, more structured than other teams. There’s really an idea behind it, with a plan written down. They really sit down for it. I think it’s a bit different with other teams.”
“Take the Vuelta, for example. Jumbo-Visma thinks: we want to go to the Vuelta with Vingegaard, Roglic, and Kuss. How are we going to do that? How can we ensure they’re in their best form at the start of the Vuelta? Then they calculate the preceding weeks and analyze all facets: in terms of training, in terms of nutrition, in terms of equipment, in terms of care, etc.”
“With other teams, things happen more by chance,” Dumoulin concludes.