{"id":4716,"date":"2023-05-03T18:09:27","date_gmt":"2023-05-03T16:09:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/?p=4716"},"modified":"2023-05-05T18:11:17","modified_gmt":"2023-05-05T16:11:17","slug":"jumbo-visma-rules-the-road-with-pedal-power-and-moxie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/uk\/2023\/05\/03\/jumbo-visma-rules-the-road-with-pedal-power-and-moxie\/","title":{"rendered":"Jumbo-Visma Rules the Road with Pedal Power and Moxie"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cycling aficionados tend, much less than, say, football fans, to follow the exploits of individual cyclists, rather than teams. The reason is obvious: football teams have community followings that don\u2019t end when a fan moves to another city or country. A fan of the Chelsea football club will remain one even if he or she later lives in Paris or New York.<\/strong><\/p>\n

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However, professional cycling teams are always named for their commercial sponsors, which inspires little loyalty. But they are country-based \u2013 for example, Jumbo-Visma is Dutch \u2013 which helps create a fan base. But I believe there are more followers of, say, Wout van Aert than of his team. Or that many fans follow Jumbo-Visma primarily because they are fans of van Aert or 2022 Tour de France<\/a> winner Jonas Vingegaard.<\/p>\n

This is one reason that we will focus on the team today. The other, more important reason is that Jumbo-Visma is on an amazing roll. Vingegaard won the Tour de France yellow jersey; van Aert, the team\u2019s super-domestique, won the Tour\u2019s \u0160koda Green Jersey<\/a> and the team won six stages. The recently completed Tour of Denmark was won by Jumbo-Visma\u2019s Christophe Laporte. And the team won the stage 1 team time trial of the ongoing Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a, in which team leader Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d is shooting for his third consecutive GC victory. That\u2019s quite a winning streak, and chances are good, barring accident or illness, that it will continue at least into September. Jumbo-Visma riders have held the maillot rojo<\/em> (red jersey) for the first three Vuelta stages, with Italian Edoardo Affini set to wear it in Tuesday\u2019s stage 4. And, frankly, there is little evidence that anyone can challenge Rogli\u010d for the GC victory.<\/p>\n

Richard Carapaz of Ineos Grenadiers is an excellent rider who finished second in the 2020 Vuelta, to Rogli\u010d. And this may be his last race for Ineos, as he has signed up<\/a> to ride for the US team EF Education-EasyPost\u00a0next year. He will certainly wish to go out on a high note but he hasn\u2019t yet demonstrated that he can beat a rider of Rogli\u010d\u2019s calibre in a Grand Tour. Other potential rivals already trail the Slovenian by significant margins. Frenchman Thibaud Pinot sits 39 secs behind after only three stages, and Australian Jai Hindley, who won this year\u2019s Giro, is 41 seconds adrift. It will surely take an unusual event or a sudden lapse in form to keep the Jumbo-Visma juggernaut from capturing another Grand Tour.<\/p>\n

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\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 #Giro<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, covid strikes again. \ud83e\udda0 Besides Wilco Kelderman, also Tobias Foss and Robert Gesink will be replaced in the Giro d\u2019Italia. Jos van Emden and Rohan Dennis are their substitutes. pic.twitter.com\/FiYQdEXcTG<\/a><\/p>\n

— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) May 2, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n