The official announcement has yet to be made but Jumbo-Visma look set to send Primož Roglič, Tom Dumoulin, and Steven Kruijswijk to the Tour de France this year.
According to a report on Wielerflits (opens in new tab), the Dutch squad will send an almost identical team to the one that raced the Tour in 2020, with just two alterations. Kruijswijk will head to the Tour after missing out last year through injury, while Mike Teunissen also makes the eight-rider roster.
The two riders to miss out this time around are George Bennett, who will race the Giro d’Italia and the Olympics, and Amund Grøndahl Jansen, who moved to Team BikeExchange over the winter. The full and official roster is expected to be announced later this week.
In 2020 Jumbo Visma made the decision to announce their Tour de France team months in advance and publicly backed Roglič, Dumoulin, and Kruijswijk as leaders. Their strength in depth made them early favourites after a string of impressive rides but Kruijswijk crashed during the Critérium du Dauphiné and was unable to regain fitness by the start of the Tour.
Dumoulin would go on to sacrifice his overall ambitions for Roglič and the Slovenian looked set to win the race until his compatriot Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) turned the tables with an unbelievable final time trial at La Planche des Belles Filles.
According to the report on Wielerflits, "The technical staff have already sat around the table in recent weeks and their plan is to try again with the three leaders Roglič, Dumoulin and Kruijswijk to start the French adventure. The three riders have also expressed their preference internally to start in the Tour.
"Where Jumbo-Visma mainly prepared last year to compete with Ineos Grenadiers, they will now focus on Pogačar's weaknesses. As of today, the technical staff will already discuss with the most important riders which tactics they can use to put Pogačar on the ropes."
Wout van Aert, who has reportedly re-signed with the team, will be expected to support the team’s GC plans but the Belgian is also set to target stage wins after he won a stage in 2019 and two the following year.
The final spots in the Tour de France team are pencilled in for veteran time trialist and domestique Tony Martin and American climber Sepp Kuss.
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