JUMBO-VISMA MATCHED INEOS
Team Ineos have been imperious at the Tour de France and in the grand tours in the last few years. Their modus operandi has been simple but effective – hire very strong riders and use largely defensive tactics to maximise their chances of winning. It’s a pretty unbeatable combination, which has won them seven yellow jerseys in eight years with four different riders – an unprecedented run of success. However, Jumbo-Visma showed signs in 2019 of being able to go toe-to-toe with Ineos. They don’t have the resources of Ineos, but good organisation and a clever hiring strategy saw them emerge as the team of the year, with multiple grand tour contenders in Rogličc and Steven Kruijswijk, and very strong climbing backup in George Bennett, Sepp Kuss, Laurens De Plus and Robert Gesink. They even do what Ineos don’t, and successfully brought a sprinter – Dylan Groenewegen – and stage hunter – Wout Van Aert – to the Tour.
Jumbo’s start to the Tour was incredible. They won the first stage with their second-string sprinter – Mike Teunissen – and then thrashed everybody in the TTT. Kruijswijk was a resilient third overall. In the Giro, Roglic wore the pink jersey and came third, then won the Vuelta: they finished on the podium of all three grand tours. The results are one thing – they were impressive. But the most important aspect of Jumbo’s year was that it was clear they are not frightened of nor intimidated by Ineos. With Dumoulin on board in 2020, they have every reason to be even more confident.