Merijn Zeeman calls 2023 Jumbo-Visma's "best spring ever" despite lack of monument win

Jumbo-Visma sporting manager Merijn Zeeman previously stated that without a win at the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, the team could not claim to have had a successful spring. Backtracking somewhat, Zeeman now believes Jumbo-Visma has had its "best spring ever".

"I am incredibly proud of this season," Zeeman tells Het Nieuwsblad clarifying his previous remarks. “We are riding our best spring ever with both the classic and the classification team. We won three World Tour stage races and five classics. That is fantastic!"

Ultimately however, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix ended in disappointment for Jumbo-Visma with team leader Wout van Aert having to settle for 4th and 3rd in the respective races. “It was only our dream goal to win the Tour of Roubaix. Those are the heroic games every team wants to win. Even before the Tour, the only conclusion was that we had already done a fantastic job," Zeeman explains.

“From start to finish. Everything was going perfectly, until Laporte dropped out. Wout was alone and rode a great race against a fantastic Van der Poel, who still had a few world-class riders with him," Zeeman says of the Hell of the North. I was on the edge of my seat when Wout took that action and ended up in a very promising position, but then I cursed when fate struck. That was very disappointing."