![]() That much has been obvious for a while but this current dominance is on a scale not previously imaginable. Jumbo-Visma now reign supreme in grand tours. It’s great that two great people, based on their personal leadership, allowed to do it.” How have they done it? Plugge added: “ is like choosing between your own children. As a team, we were true to our values and racing philosophy – winning together.” We listened to everyone’s opinion, put everything on the table, drew up a plan based on that, and asked if everyone was OK with it. ![]() ![]() “We had good discussions with all parties involved. “It was a great situation that we found ourselves in but at the same time one that never happened before and for which there was no textbook solution,” said Jumbo-Visma’s managing director Richard Plugge on Sunday explaining their thinking. They chose the sensible option, and in so doing banked a lot of PR credit. It was clear by Wednesday night that if Jumbo-Visma continued to allow their three riders to duke it out, as they threatened to, there would be an outcry and the team would lose a lot of goodwill. That they did not was down to a combination of factors, not least a small but crucial turn from Bahrain Victorious rider Mikel Landa who helped to limit Kuss’s losses on the Angliru meaning the American still led by eight seconds from Vingegaard at the end of last Wednesday.īut perhaps most important of all was public sentiment. Kuss may not have arrived in Spain as a designated leader for Jumbo-Visma, inheriting the jersey early in the race almost by accident, but now that he was wearing it, the softly-spoken 29-year-old from Colorado was very much set fair for victory unless one of his team-mates took it from him. ![]() In cycling, it is not the done thing to attack your own team-mates, particularly when they have spent years sacrificing themselves for your grand tour successes. Kuss’s once healthy lead in the general classification had been slowly whittled down by his two team-mates, who now occupied second and third spots, and fans of all creeds were apoplectic at the thought that one of them might snatch the jersey from him in his moment of glory. For a while last week it looked as if Jumbo might definitively inherit Team Sky’s mantle as the most successful but least loved team in cycling.Īfter Roglic rode away from Kuss on the Angliru at the end of stage 17, and Vingegaard followed the Slovenian, Jumbo-Visma’s reputation was very much on the line. Make no mistake, things could have gone very differently for the Dutch team over the final few days of the race. It also capped an extraordinary three weeks, one from which Jumbo-Visma emerged with their honour just about intact. The demonstration of team unity capped an extraordinary season for Jumbo-Visma, who completed two historic trebles in Spain a Vuelta podium clean sweep (the first team to do so since Kas at the 1966 Vuelta) and the grand tour ‘grand slam’ in a single calendar year (the Dutch super-team are the first squad ever to do that – even Team Sky in their most dominant years never achieved a clean sweep). The American, for whom this was a first grand tour victory after years as a faithful domestique, looked both humbled and elated at the respect being afforded him by his two more illustrious team-mates. It was a heartwarming scene that did not always seem likely to play out. Jonas Vingegaard, Sepp Kuss and Primoz Roglic, riding arm-in-arm into Madrid on Sunday evening at the end of an extraordinary Vuelta a España Vingegaard, the reigning Tour de France champion, and Roglic, the reigning Giro d’Italia champion, grinning and pointing at Kuss between them, wearing the red jersey of the Vuelta leader, as if to say ‘Sepp is the man’.
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