In a look at the Tour route of 2021, Merijn Zeeman made it clear that the two time trials will not really benefit his team.
“Of course we had quite a blow this year in the time trial”, said Zeeman. He refers to the time trial on the penultimate day, in which winner Tadej Pogacar, leader Primoz Roglic of Jumbo-Visma, rode out of the yellow jersey.
The Dutchman did not want to anticipate the plans for next year’s grand tours. “We will present it in January. We all assume that it will be a normal season with a normal calendar. But that is all still the question.”
The sporting director briefly discussed sprinter Dylan Groenewegen, who did not make his appearance in the Tour de France this year. Groenewegen caused a serious crash in the Tour of Poland, in which Fabio Jakobsen was also seriously injured.
“With Dylan, circumstances are fine. What happened has had a huge impact on him,” said Zeeman. “He scrambles up and trains well, to change his mind. He is awaiting what the UCI is going to decide. But it should be clear that everything that happened has left its mark on him.”
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