The column: The Jumbo conundrum

The column: The Jumbo conundrum

Will the arrival of Tom Dumoulin bring Ineos level success for Jumbo Visma, or could it create a few Movistar-style headaches?

Jumbo-Visma Primoz Roglic Racing Steven Kruijswijk

Cycling’s transfer season tends to go one of two ways: either it’s a big disappointment – with all those widely touted rumours amounting to nothing, turning out to have just been agents putting the squeeze on their clients’ current teams’ purse strings – or it seems to shake up everything.


With the ink drying on Viviani’s move to Cofidis and Phil Gil’s to Lotto Soudal the signs were that we were in for a big one. Jumbo Visma’s – somewhat curiously constructed – announcement that they had secured the signature of Tom Dumoulin earlier this week, settled it.


Finally, a team with the depth, of talent and pockets, to challenge the Grand Tour supremacy of Team Ineos. Perhaps, though there is another possibility. They could turn out to be the new Movistar. 


For one of the lessons from the Spanish team over the past few years should be that it takes more than simply having the best rider(s) to win a Grand Tour. A singular focus on the ultimate goal is a prerequisite, too. Despite a few differences and difficulties here and there, Team Sky/Ineos have always had that. Do Jumbo Visma? I’m not so sure.

Jumbo Visma

It’s not that the emperor has no clothes – four stages and a podium at the Tour de France are not to be sniffed at – but I’m sceptical they’re the fine robes of ermin and silk that everyone else seems to suggest.


Take the 2018 Tour de France. It was perhaps too soon for Roglič to win it but a podium was well within his reach. Not that it came down to a single moment but Steven Kruiswijk’s stage-hunting on Alpe d’Huez was not indicative of a team with its eyes on a single prize. 


Then there’s this year’s Giro d’Italia. It wasn’t bad luck that cost Roglič the overall victory, nor was it that he wasn’t physically capable. Rather it was that he was on his own for most of the race and at crucial moments the team let him down. Sure, you can also point to a gradual decline in form over the three weeks, but the margins were fine enough that had he had stronger support – specifically better climbers who could have chased Carapaz down – that difference could have been neutralised. 

Jumbo Visma

On the one hand, though he’s definitely got the potential to podium in a three week race, George Bennett is a decent bloke who’ll suck it up and get stuck in; Laurens De Plus is young enough that he’s maybe got a year or two before he starts itching for big race leadership.


On the other, even while Kruiswijk might have a few years on the others it’s hard to see him settling into a support role yet; Roglic himself is the lonest of lone wolves; add Dumoulin to the mix – a good guy, but he didn’t make this move to play second fiddle to anyone – and Jumbo could easily have a Valverde/Quintana/Landa situation on their hands.


Read: Ten minutes in Paris, with Supreme Banana, George Bennett


Maybe they can manage the talent better than Eusebio Unzué has, find space for all of their ambitions and provide opportunities to satisfy every rider. But there are only three Grand Tours a year. It’s not going to be easy.

 
 

The post The column: The Jumbo conundrum appeared first on The world's finest cycling magazine.

Jumbo-Visma Primoz Roglic Racing Steven Kruijswijk

READ MORE

Tadej Pogačar at the 2024 Il Lombardia

UAE Tour 2025 preview and contenders: Can anyone deny Pogačar?

A raft of top sprinters are lining up to vie for stage victories in the year's second WorldTour stage race

Read more
Demi Vollering 2025

Is FDJ-Suez the team that can help Demi Vollering to Tour de France Femmes redemption?

There are big changes for the Dutch rider in 2025 - will they pay off? Or could leadership issues arise again? 

Read more
Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

Tadej Pogačar to Paris-Roubaix 2025 – Legendary or laughable?

The UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider has teased his participation on social media, but is it a legitimate possibility?

Read more
James Knox at the British Road Championships

‘Credit should go to Lefevere for working the market’ - James Knox on Soudal–Quick-Step’s evolution from the cobbles to Tour de France contenders

Now in his sixth year with the Belgian squad, the British rider discusses what has changed following the arrival and performances of Remco Evenepoel

Read more
Portrait of Lukas Nerurkar

‘An altitude camp at the age of seven’ – Lukas Nerurkar on the power of doing things differently

The British rider had a unique upbringing, spending his early childhood in Ethiopia and learning from his marathon runner father – he tells Rouleur about...

Read more

READ RIDE REPEAT

JOIN ROULEUR TODAY

Get closer to the sport than ever before.

Enjoy a digital subscription to Rouleur for just £4 per month and get access to our award-winning magazines.

SUBSCRIBE