INTO NEW TERRITORY
Following a raft of men’s WorldTour squads, Jumbo-Visma have entered the women’s peloton this season with their own new team and home star Marianne Vos as the leader. Procycling finds out more about the Dutch team’s big ambitions
Apiercing ice-cold wind blows through the Perkpolder and in the background, cargo ships glide past over the Westerschelde. It’s the third day of 2021 and the top international cyclo-cross riders have gathered in Zeeuws-Vlaanderen. Nothing is as usual in the beautiful fortified town of Hulst. The race organisation has had to divert to the nearby polder, where they have prepared a gruelling course near the dykes, in order to adhere to the covid rules.
The team buses flank both sides of the only entryway, including that of JumboVisma. Next to it are an equipment truck and a minibus, both in the well known yellow-black colours. The modest trailer park is complete with a campervan that feels somewhat out of place. Judging by the animal print above the windscreen, it is not hard to guess who the owners of the white vehicle are. The Vos family has, as always, come to the cross with the campervan.
It’s a special day. After 15 years of riding for the same team, Marianne Vos is starting a new adventure as a rider for Jumbo-Visma. Her appearance at the cyclo-cross race is also her official first race with the newest team on the women’s side of the sport.
After about an hour of dragging, slipping and suffering on the Zeeuwse dykes, Vos crosses the finish line in 11th place, more than three minutes behind winner Denise Betsema. Her bike, brand new kit and face are smeared with mud. Shivering from the cold, she quickly puts on a clean jacket.
“During the warm up, a lot of riders were saying to me: ‘Nice kit! Looks good on you!’ It’s nice to see that it is being appreciated. It’s a different face in the peloton,” says Vos. “I can feel a little bit more tension than normal, but mainly motivation. It’s so nice to now be part of this team. There is a very professional structure in place with very capable people. But everything that happens comes with a family feel. Over the past couple of years I’ve been used to my parents accompanying me to the cyclo-cross. The team wasn’t like: we are going to do this completely differently now. But instead they said: ‘You can just come with the campervan.’”
A NEW CHALLENGE
Around 130 kilometres away in her hometown of Den Bosch, Esra Tromp was following the cyclo-cross on the TV. The new team manger of Jumbo-Visma would have much preferred to have gone down to Zeeuws-Vlaanderen to witness the launch of the team, but she’s had to follow Vos in action at home, due to the coronavirus restrictions in place in the Netherlands.
“It was beautiful to see the yellow-black on the course for the first time,” says Tromp. “I’ve been working towards this every day since November 1, 2020. Yesterday I was really, like: yes, we got there! And in a Dutch World Cup cyclocross with an ambassador like Marianne, that gave me such a proud feeling.”
On September 15 2019, the day that Primož Roglic won the Vuelta a España for the first time, Tromp received a phone call from Jumbo managing director Richard Plugge asking if she wanted to lead their new women’s team. It was a challenge for which the ambitious former rider, who hung up her bike in 2017 and immediately went to work as manager for her then-team Parkhotel Valkenburg, was all ears. For 2021, Tromp was able to fall back on the organisational structure that already existed through the Jumbo’s men’s WorldTour and development teams.
“There is already so much knowledge and experience there when it comes to building a team and to work towards specific goals. It would be stupid of me to do anything with that. I made use of a lot of the experience that came from the development team,” Tromp says. “What went well when setting up the team? What mistakes were made? Actually, the first few months I mainly spent talking to everyone in the organisation about their area of expertise. About talent development, training, nutrition, finance, you name it. Besides that, we talked to the race coaches about the composition of the team and
“I’ve been working towards this every day since November 1, 2020. Yesterday I was really, like: yes, we got there! “
Esra Tromp
which riders could be interesting for us. That really shows how involved everyone was with this plan.”
As for the search for a team figurehead, Plugge, Jumbo directeur sportif Merijn Zeeman and Tromp decided fairly quickly to pursue Vos. Yet the most successful Dutch pro cyclist of the past 15 years was still somewhat surprised to receive the call from Tromp last summer.
“There had been whispers in the hallways about Jumbo-Visma starting up a women’s team, but I had never thought it would be for 2021,” says Vos. “Esra told me that they really wanted me on the team and that they wanted to help me get the most out of myself. I was very content at CCC-Liv, and had found my place there, but eventually I thought: if ever again
I was to switch to another team it would be this moment.
“On the one hand I feel like this is a new chapter, but on the other hand I see it as a way to build on the form I built up in the previous years, but with new people around me and new incentives.
There will definitely be interaction with the men.
We won’t plan in moments where we will be in discussions with them.
I envisage us speaking in informal settings, and that can be very valuable.
“I was offered the opportunity to fully commit to my cycling for another three years. With a great Dutch team known by everyone, from both professional cycling and ice skating, and which has developed so much in the last couple years. I’ve noticed that I’ve landed in a very comfortable bed. And there is already a lot of knowledge in-house about equipment, training and nutrition. Everything has been thought about; no detail has been forgotten. Those are just the final percentages that make the difference in modern professional cycling.
“Besides this, it’s not always possible with every women’s team that you are allowed to combine road and cross. That absolutely was part of what I was considering when choosing Jumbo-Visma. Had they made me an offer without the possibility of doing cross, then I might have declined the offer. But now the picture was complete.”
Besides Vos, the names that stand out the most in the team are Anouska Koster, Riejanne Markus and talent Jip van den Bos.
“We have assembled a team that will be able to hold their own with the top riders, both in the spring classics and on the
difficult climbs during the stage races,” says Tromp. “We have experienced riders in Marianne, Rianne, Anouska and also Romy Kasper, who can deliver us results, but we also have a few unexpected names. Diamonds in the rough, such as Aafke Soet, Pernille Mathiesen and Anna Henderson. Their talent might not fully have been realised but whom we see a lot of potential.
“We have a good budget to work with, but that does not mean anything and everything is possible. We most definitely do not have the highest budget within women’s cycling. We don’t need to. We just need to start building. I’m proud to say though that all the facilities and support from within the organisation, and the way in which knowledge is shared between the different teams, cannot be found in any other outfit.”
LIVING THE DREAM
It’s almost two weeks later in mid-January when the Jumbo-Visma riders finally come together for the first time. Together with the men’s squad and development team they have landed in Alicante, Spain, where the different teams and their staff are staying in the same hotel, but in separate bubbles.
It’s an extra special experience for Nancy van der Burg. Exactly two years ago she was also at this training camp. Back then she was there as a dietician for the men’s squad; now she’s back as a rider who, at age 28, can call herself pro for the first time.
“Now and again I have to pinch myself,” says Van der Burg after a successful day’s training. “It’s a dream for me to be a pro cyclist, and with this team as well. When I’m having breakfast with my team-mates, my eyes glance sideways across the hall to where the men are having their breakfast and I see them on their phones, weighing their food. Two years ago we were in this hotel when we introduced the Foodcoach app. Then I would stand outside and have a quick chat with the riders before they would head out for training, and now I’m standing there, bike in hand. Those are the moments that I realise how special this is.”
Van der Burg started work at LottoNLJumbo in 2018, and at the same time she began racing for Parkhotel Valkenburg. The job combination soon turned out to be impossible. “Working full time and riding full time was too much. It was a big puzzle to get enough training hours and to stay fresh mentally. It was no longer feasible after five months. I had to make a choice, and I chose my job. At the time it felt like the right decision, but down the road I realised that cycling wasn’t a finished chapter for me just yet.
“The desire was growing stronger. Especially when I would accompany the team to altitude training or a grand tour. That was the life I wanted to lead as well. I would train with the men for fun sometimes and Primož Roglic asked me a few times: ‘Why did you quit? You ride so well!’ That also helped to reawaken the flame inside me that wanted to race.”
In 2019, Van der Burg rode the Dutch National Championships and due to her sixth place, she was the highest placed elite rider without a contract. It made her realise once more that she needed to chase her dream. Last year she returned to Parkhotel Valkenburg and soon after Tromp asked her to ride for Jumbo-Visma.
“I just about managed not to jump with joy. I really only now see myself as a pro cyclist for the first time,” Van der Burg says. “I’ve been cycling for a long time, but never on a high level because I was always studying and working. My experience is therefore limited, I have a lot to learn about riding at WorldTour level. I love being able to learn from Marianne, who is my room-mate at this training camp, and to be able to support her in the upcoming races.”
Van der Burg’s nutritional knowledge should also help, too. “How to apply it, the exact amounts of energy and carbohydrates that I need for my training or a race, that will definitely work in my favour.
“I don’t have the urge to go around with breakfast advice for my team-mates. Not even a little. That’s what we have our nutritionist for in the team. I am now primarily a rider.”
As the rules of the UCI state that a new team may not immediately join the WorldTour ranks, Jumbo-Visma will be riding under a Continental license this season. This, however, does not detract from the ambitions of team manager Tromp. “When I look specifically at this season, then the championships are big goals for us. Besides that, we would really like to win a spring classic. The Amstel Gold Race is a front runner and we have riders for whom the Olympic Games are personally very important.” Among others focusing on Tokyo is Vos, who has a dual role as leader in the team: “I was recruited to perform well and to share my experience. In the first instance I’m aiming for a successful spring and besides that I want to focus on the Games, which I hope will be able to go ahead. And what would make me happy at the end of the season? If we have worked well as a team, and different riders have been able to grow, and
I played a meaningful part in that growth.”
Tromp is well aware that the name of the team will bring certain expectations with it for the general public. Namely the excellent performance of the men’s team. “In the past six years, Jumbo-Visma has grown from a nobody in the peloton to a team that is looked at by everyone. Of course, that brings expectations with it for us, but there is no need to be afraid of that. We may be careful with these riders. But I feel that the team is solid; we are on the right road. The most important thing is that we keep progressing and our riders keep developing,” she says.
Tromp has a clear vision for the team in the coming years. “Eventually we want to be one of the best teams in the peloton and we want to be the number one in the world. Just like the men accomplished in 2020. It means that as a team we need to perform well in the classics as well as the grand tours. In 2023 or 2024 I would love to win the Tour de France. It’s our job to keep improving and to create a team that could achieve that one day.”
“What would make me happy? If we have worked well as a team and different riders have been able to grow”
Marianne Vos