Jumbo-Visma DS Merijn Zeeman: "We see a future GC rider in Thomas Gloag"

Tobias Foss initially seemed to be the spearhead for Jumbo-Visma in the Tour de Romandie, but the Norwegian gave up after four stages due to minor health problems. However, 21-year-old Thomas Gloag took over the role of Foss with verve.

“Tom has had a very good week,” said sporting director Merijn Zeeman in an interview for Wielerflits after the Swiss stage race. “He is eleventh in the final classification and has shown on Saturday that he is a talented climber,” Zeeman continues about Gloag, who finished tenth in Saturday's queen stage. The young Briton finished at Thyon 2000 in a group with Egan Bernal, Eddie Dunbar and Rafal Majka. “We see Tom as a future general classification rider for our team. I think he definitely showed his potential last week.”

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Gloag also showed himself on the final day: from the start he jumped into the early breakaway. Because he was still relatively close in GC, he was briefly the virtual leader. In the end, however, the escapees would not make it. “It was not quite the intention to get into the breakaway, but I enjoyed it,” said Gloag after the stage. “Unfortunately we didn't get too much space. After the last climb it still looked good, but when the peloton broke into pieces and it became a hard race, our chances were gone.”

For Gloag, his tenth place in the queen stage was the highlight of the Tour de Romandie. “That was a very nice performance. I have learned a lot from my older teammates this week and will take this experience into the next races.”

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Thomas Gloag's next programme should be Tour of Norway at the end of May, before Critérium du Dauphiné, where he is expected to race in support of his star leader, Jonas Vingegaard as the Dane prepares to defend his Tour de France title.

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Final startlist Giro d'Italia with Evenepoel, Roglic, Ganna, Cavendish, Almeida, Carthy, Vlasov and Thomas