"They thought that Rohan Dennis had not ridden well" - Bart Lemmen recalls first impressing Jumbo-Visma in Gran Camino ITT

The remarkable rise of Bart Lemmen from Air Force officer to Jumbo-Visma rider in just a couple of years has been one of the more interesting stories from this transfer window. According to the man himself, the seeds of his big move were planted at Gran Camino.

Last season, riding for Human Powered Health in his first professional campaign aged 28, Lemmen impressed Jumbo-Visma's riders and staff with a very impressive, individual time-trial performance at Gran Camino, finishing fourth on the day, only behind Jonas Vingegaard, Rohan Dennis and Will Barta.

"I flew back with a number of people from Jumbo-Visma," Lemmen recalls in conversation on the podcast De Grote Plaat. "I think I was talking to Frans Maassen (Jumbo-Visma Sports Director ed.) at the baggage claim and he said: well, we actually thought that Rohan Dennis had not ridden that well, but then it turned out that you had ridden a super time. For me it was the perfect time-trial, in terms of profile. Everything went well that day."

Going forward, can the late bloomer continue his rapid rise even higher? "Physically, there must still be something possible in terms of potential. This was my first year as a professional, so the first year of cycling of training, resting, eating... and I didn't stretch that all the way to the max," he assesses. "I don't dare say much about it yet. In my opinion you start at the bottom and see how good you are, but I hope that upward trend will continue for at least another year."