Team LottoNL-Jumbo ends Tour with three victories and two riders in top five overall
Team LottoNL-Jumbo has ended a very successful Tour de France with three stage wins and two riders in the top five of the general classification. In the final stage to the Champs-Élysées in Paris, the fourth and fifth place of Primoz Roglic and Steven Kruijswijk were never in danger. Amund Grondahl Jansen punctured in the penultimate lap. Therefore, the plan to go for the sprint with the Norwegian didn’t work out.
Manager Richard Plugge was delighted with the performance of his team. “It’s the best Tour in the history of the team. So I can be more than proud and happy. We won two stages with Groenewegen and a stage with Roglic and we have two riders in the top five of the classification. For us, this Tour is more than a success. The best part is that it’s wasn’t only a riders’ performance, but also a performance of the entire team.”
Sports director Nico Verhoeven concurred with that analysis. “We have reached our goal of achieving stage wins with Dylan and to ride a good GC. Unfortunately, Dylan had to leave the Tour de France early as a result of the crash in the Roubaix stage. But the boys who were here in support of Dylan did a perfect job in the mountains for Steven and Primoz. Three weeks long, the entire team performed at a high level. That’s the result of years of preparation.”
Roglic excelled with pride. “I’m very proud to have shown this over the past few weeks. We can look back at three beautiful weeks. The fact that I won the toughest stage of the Tour is the best feeling there is. I was a little disappointed that I had to give up my third position, but I also have to be realistic. It just couldn’t go any faster yesterday, so I’m at peace with it. As a team, we achieved the maximum, so we can certainly be proud of that.”
Kruijswijk was the second rider of Team LottoNL-Jumbo in the top five of the classification. “This is very beautiful. Reaching the finish in Paris always gives me a very special feeling. I enjoyed the past three weeks and I can be proud of my fifth place. We attacked a lot and showed ourselves as a team. We can definitely built on this towards the future.”