"Winning the Tour de France is above all" - Jumbo-Visma

Thursday, 17 November 2022 at 22:00

Jumbo-Visma have had a very strong season, and with signings such as Dylan van Baarle and Wilco Kelderman into 2023, it could be that the Dutch team could fly even higher.

“The year 2020 wasn't that bad either, but winning the Tour de France is above all. For a cyclist, that is the highest you can achieve, higher than Olympic champion,” Frans Maassen, team DS, told Wielerflits. “It was our dream to win the Tour. We have now won the yellow and green jersey, which was great to experience.”

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It was a long-awaited goal for the team to win the Tour de France, and 2022 saw the team dominate the race, despite the tough competition of Tadej Pogacar. Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic will remain at the helm of the Grand Tour competitions in the coming year, but the presence of van Baarle, van Aert and Christophe Laporte will assure a top-tier classics team - with Olav Kooij also rising up the ranks in the sprints.

“Olav Kooij was exceptionally good. Twenty years and twelve victories," he continued. "Koen Bouwman winning the mountain jersey in the Giro d'Italia, that is also phenomenally good. And Christophe Laporte was also a very big surprise for me.” The Frenchman had a super cobbled classics season and besides helping the team into the yellow jersey in France, he won a stage of his own in the final week.