Roglic and Kruijswijk to Paris as the number four and five in Tour de France
Team LottoNL-Jumbo has crowned a successful Tour de France with three stage victories but also with the fourth and fifth place in the general classification. In the thirty-one kilometre long time trial, Primoz Roglic finished in eighth place and therefore dropped from third to fourth in the general classification. Steven Kruijswijk finished sixteenth and consolidated his fifth place. Tomorrow, the final stage finishes on the Champs-Elysées in Paris.
Roglic is happy with what he has achieved. “We can be short about the time trial. It is what it is. I produced enough power, but the others were just better today. I have to be realistic and be happy with my result. I gave everything I had; I couldn’t go faster today. All in all it was a nice Tour. I love this race. Unfortunately, I do not finish on the podium, but I am very happy with the fourth place in what is only my second Tour de France. It is a confirmation that I am able to ride for a GC in a grand tour. That is promising for the future.”
With his fifth place, Kruijswijk is the second rider of Team LottoNL-Jumbo in the top ten of the overall standings. “Yes, really beautiful! Before the Tour, I expressed the ambition to finish in the top five. If this works out among riders of such an entry, I can be more than proud of that. This is what I live for. It is also a confirmation that I can still do this. After my crash in the 2016 Giro, I did not really live up to the expectations, until now. As a team, we can look back at a succesful Tour de France with Primoz in fourth place and three stage victories. We rode offensively and we played a role of importance in almost every stage. We even offered Team Sky quite some resistance. We can definitely continue to build on this towards the future.”