The relationship between van Baarle and Vingegaard is developing well says the Dutch national champion. "We don't invite each other to the birthday parties yet, but I'm very good with Jonas. At the first training camp I was already in his room, so that made us closer," he explains at the Rouleur live event in London.
At the Vuelta however, the tensions within the team were clear for all to see. "Jonas told me that there were some frustrations between the three," says van Baarle on the internal arguments between Vingegaard, Kuss and
Primoz Roglic. "And after the Tour I had an even better relationship with him than before, so I think it felt a little more natural for him to talk to me about it. Hopefully I can come to his birthday party next year."
Comparing the differences between INEOS and Jumbo-Visma, van Baarle has noticed a few key things that set the two teams apart. "They are both looking for marginal gains , but the biggest difference is the nutrition and the nutrition coaches," he explains. "In this way I really took another step forward, especially in the big tours. After every ride your recovery feels better and I didn't have any bad days. That has to do with the nutrition we get both on and off the bike."
"I think we still can't realize what exactly it means. It was a big goal to win all three Grand Tours, but I don't think we'll really realize what it means until a few years from now," he concludes. "In any case, I was very proud of the guests and thought it was great to be on the podium with the rest of the team, since we also won the team classification."