"It would be nice if there was a possibility to race with Fabio Jakobsen" - Julius van den Berg on transfer speculations

Julius van den Berg made a return to competiton at Tour de Suisse after a busy spring. His next objective is National Championships where he'll meet with two more van den Bergs - Lars and Marijn, his EF Education-EasyPost teammate.

Van den Berg was actually supposed to take part in the Giro d'Italia this year, but happy news changed that. "A baby has been born," he informs with a smile. "The original plan was indeed to ride Giro, but my second daughter was born on April 26. The team gave me the space to spend some time with my family. EF Education-EasyPost is very relaxed about that, so that was great."

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Yet van den Berg has not been idle. "I went to Luxembourg for a week and was able to train hard and well there. Normally I will not go to the Tour, but it is my goal to be in the best possible position through the National Championships. I am also on the longlist for this year's Vuelta, but we will see how that will develop."

As the Dutch rider is out of contract at the end of this season, some rumours about his next destination say that he might accompany his friend Fabio Jakobsen in a new team. "It would be nice if there was a possibility to race together, but I don't think that is the number one priority," he says about a possible collaboration with Jakobsen.

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Final startlist Tour de France with BIB | Vingegaard, Pogacar, Cavendish, Van der Poel, Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Bernal, Pidcock, Sagan and Girmay