28/02/2023

Jumbo-Visma DS on Pogacar's 2022 spring: "he should have won the Tour of Flanders and won the Tirreno-Adriatico with ease"

Jumbo-Visma of all teams must be aware of how Tadej Pogacar is doing, seeing the rivalries that ensure. The Slovenian has started his season in terrific style and Jumbo DS Merijn Zeeman antecipates his first battle with Jonas Vingegaard.

"He rides very fast and it looks easy and strong," Zeeman said of Pogacar after the season's start. "It's not very different from other years. Last year he won Strade Bianche after a solo of fifty kilometers, he should have won the Tour of Flanders and won the Tirreno-Adriatico with ease."

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Pogacar won the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior and then three stages alongside the overall classification. Jonas Vingegaard backed that up by winning all three stages and GC at Gran Camino. The duo's psychological war has had a balanced start, next week they'll face in the French mountains.

"All the major teams in the cycling world have their own approach. There are a lot of smart and good people who do what they believe in and so do we. UAE is not Jumbo-Visma and Jumbo-Visma is not INEOS," Zeeman states. "Everyone does it their own way and the final reckoning comes after the big games. Everything there is now is nice for the statistics, but the three Grand Tours and the Monuments are the main goals for us."

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The Tour de France is the main goal for both this year, however whilst Vingegaard goes for a stage-race oriented spring, Pogacar's versatility will see him aim towards victories at the spring classics, the Tour des Flandres perhaps the main one where he will face Jumbo's strong classics block.

"Every year you start all over again at zero. On the one hand, that means getting better with the group you have, but also having your recruitment in order. You have to train great talents and get riders, and in that way also work on 2027 and 2028. It is an ongoing process and the biggest challenge is that we will still be the best team in the world ten years from now. That is our big goal and I hope we will succeed," Zeeman concluded.