The Dutch team announced on Tuesday that Steven Kruijswijk is the only Dutchman in the Tour de France selection of Jumbo-Visma. As expected, there is no place for Robert Gesink, while time trial expert Rohan Dennis is absent due to physical problems.
Selection of Jumbo-Visma tours
- Primoz Roglic (Slovenia)
- Steven Kruijswijk (Netherlands)
- Jonas Vingeard (Denmark)
- Sepp Kuss (US)
- Wout van Aert (Belgium)
- Tiesj Benoot (Belgium)
- Nathan Van Hooydonck (Belgium)
- Christophe Laporte (France)
When Jumbo-Visma presented the team in January, they had nominated six riders for the Tour, including Kruijswijk. Other drivers were Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Sepp Kuss and newcomer Dennis. Sporting director Merijn Zeeman announced earlier this month that there is still a question mark behind the names of Kuss, Kruijswijk and Dennis. “We want to keep more options open,” he said.
Of these three, Dennis has now lost weight. The Australian, who has suffered from stomach and intestinal complaints in recent weeks due to the withdrawal of Jumbo-Visma from the Tour de Suisse due to the corona epidemic, was unable to prove himself.
The Belgians Tiesj Benoot, Nathan Van Hooydonck and Christophe Laporte took part in the eight-member line-up. Gesink also wanted to participate in the Tour, but it is not surprising that he succeeded. The 36-year-old Achterhoeker has already started the Tour ten times and peaked in 2010 in fourth place in the final classification.
Mike Teunissen, who participated in the Jumbo-Visma Tour last year and even wore the yellow jersey in 2019, missed a place in the selection.
Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingaard at the Dauphiné earlier this month.
The team has two leaders with Roglic and Vingaard.
Jumbo-Visma has two leaders with Roglic and Vingaard. Three-time Vuelta winner Roglic looked poised to claim overall Tour victory in 2020 until he was chased out of yellow by Tadej Pogacar in the final week of the time trial. Last year, the Slovenian driver had a serious accident and was unable to finish the run.
In the absence of Roglic, Vingaard finished second overall and much is expected from the 25-year-old Dane in the next round. Jumbo-Visma also wants to compete with Van Aert for the green points jersey.
Kruijswijk will be one of the best assists from Roglic and Vingaard, but the 35-year-old Brabançon has shown in the past that he can climb well in the standings. In 2019 Kruijswijk finished the Tour in third place and fifth a year ago.
The Tour de France starts on Friday, July 1, with a time trial of 13 kilometers in the streets of the Danish capital Copenhagen. The tour ends on July 24 in Paris.
Source: NU
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