In recent years, Ineos (Sky) has not been able to change in the Tour de France, but with Jumbo-Visma there seems to be a team that can really compete with the British for the first time.
Since Bradley Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2012, Sky and later Ineos have held the world’s most important cycling race in an almost paralyzing stranglehold, followed by the dominance of Froome and the overall victories of Thomas and Bernal last year.
But now there is a hijacker on the coast with Jumbo-Visma. In the Ronde van de Ain it was the Dutch who kept Ineos in an arm clamp with the trident Roglic, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk (and even Bennett).
“For the first time since Sky, there is a team that is next to and maybe even above them”, says José De Cauwer. “It promises to be a great Tour. Who will carry the race? Maybe this even offers opportunities for others? We have not seen that in the last 10 years.”
“At Jumbo-Visma they have the mental advantage”, says Christophe Vandegoor. “At the presentation in the winter they already said clearly: we are going for the Tour victory. There even the Tour team was released, which is very abnormal in cycling. They immediately say: we are trying to get to Ineos’ scalp.”
At Ineos there may be some saturation, while that drive is very bad at Jumbo-Visma.
“Maybe Dumoulin says yes, but he thinks no”
Jumbo-Visma’s odds are also increasing by the week, as Ineos doesn’t seem as strong as usual. “They have a few problem cases,” says Vandegoor. “Thomas is nowhere at the moment. While he has also completed all those heavy training blocks.”
“After his Tour win, Thomas has started to rest on his laurels”, says De Cauwer. “Then there is the whole story with Froome. Will he stay or not? (He eventually goes to Israel Start-Up Nation). After those many successes, there may be some saturation now. While at Jumbo-Visma there is that drive. is. “
At Jumbo-Visma they have other cats to beat. Who will soon be their leader? “Roglic is now trying to pull the sheet back to him and I don’t think Dumoulin will drive straight through the team tactics”, says de Cauwer.
After his win in the Giro, Dumoulin was a bit tired of the race. Perhaps he is now thinking after that very long break: this is an opportunity! Maybe he will say yes and think no.
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