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"I later talked about this one-on-one with Primoz, and then raised it in the group" - Merijn Zeeman shares details and lessons from 2023 Vuelta a Espana and Angliru drama
CyclingSunday, 10 December 2023 at 19:03
Stage 17 of the 2023 Vuelta a Espana was an unique moment in the cycling season and perhaps in the history of cycling. Three teammates of the same team dominating a Grand Tour and battling among each other for the overall win on the insanely hard Alto de l'Angliru. Merijn Zeeman, DS of Jumbo-Visma at the time, recalls his time in the car and after that day and how he handled the trio.
“With three leaders during the Vuelta, I couldn't be in a better place to develop my own leadership style and learn lessons. Because this was definitely very extreme," Zeeman told Masters Magazine. "What I have especially experienced is the power of realizing what our culture is and what our values are. That turned out to be the railing I could hold on to. Starting with our strategy. We completely surprised our opponents with the way we rode. We kept attacking. Even when we were in the lead. The motto has always been that we keep attacking so that we never have to defend. Only there was no scenario for when we were at one, two or three, the moment when there was no one left to attack. Suddenly there were three of us, but the option of attacking each other had always remained undiscussed.”
Sepp Kuss rode to a breakaway win on the first week, and the buffer he had allowed Jumbo-Visma to have a three-pronged attack for the red jersey. On stage 13, the first multi-mountain stage in the race, they looked to have no competition for the overall win however. However as Kuss' lead was being cut, both Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic - the latter mainly - looked to gain time and try to jump to the race lead. Then came stage 17, and on the slopes of the Alto de l'Angliru, the trio literally dropped the rest of the competition. But Primoz Roglic had his own ambition of winning the race and pushed enough to drop race leader Kuss.
“When Roglic felt good, he thought he could take the red jersey at the expense of Kuss and launched an attack against his own teammate. With the risk that Kuss would have to let go and someone else would come on stage. So we as a whole had become less of that. At that moment I quickly started sparring with Richard Plugge (team CEO, ed.)," Zeeman shares. "And we found that after all these years we had become so close as a team that this was no longer possible.” It was absolute domination, but within the team there was obvious tension. Ultimately, the talks after the stage had a common decision taken, and that was to protect Kuss' place in the GC and support him to victory. A very popular results for the American, who was widely celebrated to take what was one of the most surprising Grand Tour wins of the last decade.
The lack of leadership, present and future, led Primoz Roglic to leave the team, but ultimately Zeeman tells the story of a fruitful set of conversations following that day. “I later talked about this one-on-one with Primoz, and then raised it in the group. Then we had an intense but beautiful conversation with each other, in which everyone agreed on one thing: we do not attack each other. We should not compete against each other, but against our opponent who is in fourth place. We have to ensure that we remain one, two and three and we will defend that.”
“That was a very special moment for Richard and me. To experience, in such an extreme situation, how everyone was so aware of our culture and philosophy. During the conversations in recent weeks towards the new season, I have noticed how more than ever everyone understands that their own ambitions are very important, super important even, but that there is a limit," he concludes. "The team interest always comes before your interest. With us, everyone gets many opportunities, no one is limited in their possibilities, but unconditional support for each other is above all. That is a wonderful lesson I learned in 2023.”
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