One of the top teams in the sport, Jumbo-Visma boasts some of the best riders on its roster. A solid future is the team's top priority, which is why they focus on developing young talent.
"Our big goal is to train our own top riders. That takes time, energy and money," says Robbert de Groot, head of the youth development team. There have been some good results so far for the team. “ We see that that is possible with Olav Kooij, Gijs Leemreize, Michel Hessmann and brothers Mick and Tim van Dijke."
The process of recruiting is also interesting. "People give us tips, managers of riders call us, or talents simply stand out because they are riding very good results. If we think it's really an interesting rider, we visit that rider and invite him to personality tests and physical tests," shares de Groot.
In the long run, the goal of this development team is to develop a talent that can win the Tour de France. “To win the Tour de France with a rider who comes from our Development team. And preferably a Dutchman. That's also why we started our whole Academy. To get more young people on bikes in the Netherlands," said de Groot.
Although there are a few who have the potential to make it big, de Groot wants them to scale at their own pace for now. "Darren van Bekkum, Tijmen Graat and Menno Huising are interesting riders. But we don't want to label them as future Tour winners right now. We do expect those guys to be able to grow to a higher level with us," concluded de Groot.
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