Jumbo-Visma CEO Richard Plugge talks about 'yellow jersey culture' and how team grew to success: "In 2013 I set myself the goal of becoming the best cycling team in the world"

Jumbo-Visma are without a doubt the strongest team in the current peloton. Their unbelievable 2023 season was the fruit of a decade of work, investments and proper mentality within the Dutch team, and CEO Richard Plugge talks about how he helped make this happen after the team barely escaped it's end several years ago.

"In the first year we just wanted to survive. Thanks to Rabobank we have also been given the opportunity to restart, for which I am eternally grateful. By looking at the long term we could survive as a company, but above all I always wanted to be number one. That was also the case when I worked in the media," Plugge told Vélofuté. "In 2013 I set myself the goal of becoming the best cycling team in the world. We did this by creating a new team culture, after which we laid the foundation for the years that followed in 2016 and 2017. In 2018, Jumbo became the main sponsor, after which Visma joined in 2019. This strengthened our budget, allowing us to retain our best riders such as Primoz Roglic and Dylan Groenewegen."

Famously, at the 2014 Tour de France, Bauke Mollema and Laurens ten Dam lost several minutes in the race's final time-trial as they were unfamiliar with the bike and were racing in it for the first time. A lot has changed ever since. In the late 2010's the team began to grow a few strong climbers that would make for it's future and their bets worked perfectly. From small teams, the team signed Jonas Vingegaard, Primoz Roglic and Wout van Aert for example, and then - as did Team Sky in their prime - built a full focus on the Tour de France mentality, which ultimately led them to virtually dominate the last two editions. "But the most important thing was to establish a new culture, which we still have today with the 'yellow jersey culture'."

"Everyone in the team has to act and perform at that level. In concrete terms, this means that everyone has to think as soon as they wake up: what can I do in my field to improve the team?'. I am always looking for people who think and say: what can I do in November to help the team win the Tour next year? That's what that culture is all about. We are also in a comfortable position because of our status: all young riders want to join us. Every day I receive one or two emails from young riders sharing their information about joining our team.," he concludes.