Jumbo-Visma is counting on young guard during the next Giro and continues to look for a replacement for Roglic: “He lifted the team to a higher level”

In the podcast With an open mind Merijn Zeeman, sporting director at Jumbo-Visma, gave more information about the future plans for next season’s Giro and talked about Roglic’s departure.

“We want to send our younger talents to the Giro,” Zeeman said about his ideas for the next Tour of Italy, in which Wout van Aert may participate. “Last season we were able to win the three Grand Tours because we followed Primoz Roglic’s program (Giro, ed.) and Jonas Vingegaard (Tour de France, ed.) partly divided differently. In the end, it wasn’t a goal to win all three.” (Sepp Kuss completed the bunch of overall victories in the Vuelta in September, ed.)

Roglic has since transferred to Bora-hansgrohe. In the German formation, the Slovenian finds a team that will drive more for him. “I hope to be able to replace Primoz,” says Zeeman. “Although there is currently no ready-made substitute. Without Primoz there are fewer difficult conversations, discussions and choices in the coaching group. On the other hand, he was so demanding that he lifted the team to a higher level.”

Zeeman also points out the fact of a constant level of form. “The more successful one season, the more uncertain I become about the next. There are plenty of examples of teams that reached a peak, after which things only went downhill. I definitely want to prevent that. That is why we will soon bring a breath of fresh air into the coaching staff. We need to ensure that there is competition from below, so that Jonas (Vingegaard, ed.) may lose its place in the event of poor performance. If it all goes too easy, sooner or later you will be screwed,” Zeeman concludes.