Jumbo-Visma’s 2020 plans unveiled
BRUSSELS (AFP) – Jumbo-Visma revealed Friday that it will unleash its three GC stars – Primoz Roglic, Tom Dumoulion and Steven Kruijswijk – in a bid to dislodge the dominant Team Ineos at the 2020 Tour de France.
Dumoulin, joining Jumbo-Visma for 2020 after eight years in the Sunweb organization, is a former Giro d’Italia winner, while Roglic is the reigning Vuelta a España champion and Kruijswijk came in third on the 2019 Tour de France.
“We need to go to France with the strongest team possible,” Jumbo sports director Merijn Zeeman said at the team’s unveiling of its line up in Amsterdam.
“The objective is to win [the Tour],” said Dumoulin, who finished second behind Geraint Thomas at the Tour in 2018, but did not start the race this year as he dealt with nagging knee problems.
As part of the team’s GC focus for the Tour, Jumbo-Visma will send star sprinter Dylan Groenewegen to the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España instead of the Tour. The Dutchman has collected four Tour stage wins over the past three years.
Kiwi climber George Bennett will lead the team’s GC charge at the Giro. The 29-year-old finished eighth there in 2018.
Jumbo-Visma also announced the remainder of the lineup set to accompany Roglic, Dumoulin, and Kruijswijk in France, an unusual step this far out from the race.
Tony Martin, Robert Gesink, Wout van Aert, Laurens De Plus, and Sepp Kuss comprise the rest of the Tour squad. The race will mark the Tour de France debut for 25-year-old American Kuss.
Van Aert will look to make a successful return to the race after crashing out in 2019. He won a stage this summer before abandoning after a heavy fall during the stage 13 time trial.
His main objective for the season, however, will likely be the spring Classics, with the former cyclocross world champion saying, “I hope to peak for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.”
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