Everything was filmed in Jumbo-Visma's miraculous year, except for one important moment: "We can't reveal everything"

Jumbo-Visma started the 2023 season with the goal of making sports history. And they succeeded spectacularly: for the first time ever, the Dutch team managed to win all three Grand Tours in a single year. In the five-part series All-in: The Trilogy, the team is followed by cameras for a year, yielding many fascinating insights. IDLProCycling.com attended the premiere of the series and got an early look at all five episodes and details the most intriguing footage in this article.

Evenepoel gets his 'karma', but Kuss gets Covid in the Giro d'Italia 

The Giro d'Italia was the first Grand Tour of the season and came with immense pressure. Had they not won this race, the chance to write sporting history would have been lost. In a thrilling turn of events, team leader Primoz Roglic managed to transform his deficit into a magnificent victory, outperforming pink jersey holder Geraint Thomas in the mountain time trial. The emotions of the Slovenian, especially his wife Lora Klinc, were moving.

However, the Giro contained more unseen moments, particularly the crash of rival Remco Evenepoel. The Belgian from Soudal-Quick Step, who would later withdraw due to a Covid infection, was the highest-ranked GC rider but crashed during a rain-soaked stage. "This is just... karma," said Jumbo-Visma's team director Marc Reef.

Shortly before that crash, Roglic had been involved in a fall, after which Soudal-Quick Step decided to accelerate the pace in the first group, much to Reef's dismay. "Goddamn, what assholes," Reef exclaimed. "Come on, this is very sportsmanlike. This is just unnecessary."

Evenepoel later withdrew from the stage race with a positive Covid test. The same could have happened to Sepp Kuss. The American also tested positive for the virus but continued in the race. "I tested positive for Covid, but I only had mild symptoms, no fever or anything," he explains in the series. However, Kuss had to isolate from the group for a few days.

Van Aert furious, Vingegaard shows his leadership

The second stage of the Tour de France was practically earmarked for Wout van Aert. The task for the killer bees was simply to prevent any breakaways, as Van Aert was expected to have the fastest sprint in the reduced peloton. But the team car saw it coming. "Oh boy," muttered Van Dongen.

Frenchman Victor Lafay managed to break away in the last kilometer. Van Aert finished second, just behind Lafay. Frustrated, the Flemish rider immediately threw a water bottle to the ground, cursed vehemently, and quickly retreated to the bus. "Damn. How is that even possible?" he wondered aloud.

Shortly thereafter, team leader Jonas Vingegaard also entered the bus and took on the role of true leader with Van Aert. "It will be alright. We're so strong, the stage win will definitely come." Van Aert, who apologized the next day for his behavior, agreed.

Team manager Merijn Zeeman frequently praises the Dane in the series for taking on the leadership role. Nathan van Hooydonck, present at the premiere in Breda like Zeeman, comments on Vingegaard's leadership qualities. "The first time I met him, I didn't see a born leader. But when he speaks up in the bus, and it's an important day for him and the GC, everyone listens attentively."

"We're not going to win the Tour this year" and "Pogacar's bike change was so stupid"

Van Aert's angry outburst was just the beginning of the Tour de France. This Grand Tour would ultimately become a head-to-head battle between rivals Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates). The outcome is now known, though Vingegaard's team management had doubts during the tour: "We're not going to win the Tour this year," was a recurring sentiment.

Yet, Vingegaard managed to dominate the Tour. After the sixteenth stage, an individual time trial over 22.4 kilometers, positivity was fully restored within the team leadership: Vingegaard's time trial was far better than that of his rival, although this was not really expected.

"I expect we are going to lose time," were, in fact, the words of performance manager Mathieu Heijboer. "Twenty to thirty seconds. UAE has also made significant strides in improving their time trial equipment." Yet, this moment clearly illustrates why Team Jumbo-Visma, rebranded as Visma | Lease a Bike in 2024, is so strong. "Our distinction is that we leave no detail unexplored."

And indeed, that turned out to be true. Analyses showed that a bike change in the final kilometers of the time trial, which ended uphill, would not be beneficial. "And I think UAE will make the switch," Heijboer was adamant. And they did. Pogacar swapped his time trial bike for a standard, lighter road bike, which ultimately cost him time. "That’s no coincidence," Heijboer asserted, pointing to the different approaches and strategies between the two teams. Team director Grischa Niermann added: "That bike change, that was really stupid."

Vuelta soap opera between Roglic, Kuss and Vingegaard

Much has been said and written about how the Vuelta a España unfolded for Jumbo-Visma. Two team leaders became three when Sepp Kuss remained in the red jersey longer than expected. However, the way the race was ridden thereafter stirred up a lot of emotions. The series reveals previously unseen footage of that Grand Tour in the final episode, and the discomfort is palpable.

While Roglic aimed to win and expressed that, Vingegaard seemed content with the classification as it was and was the first to suggest keeping the results as they were, which would have led Kuss to win the Vuelta. However, Kuss seemed indecisive, preferring to let the others (his two teammates) compete for the overall victory. Initially unsure of how to proceed, the team management decided to let the riders race against each other.

Consequently, Kuss found himself in a tricky situation. He couldn’t keep up with Vingegaard and Roglic and had to fight to save his red jersey until Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) surpassed him. "If you want to win the Vuelta, you have to stick to my wheel," Landa reportedly told Kuss. "I’m eternally grateful to him," Kuss said in the fifth episode. "He can drink beer on my tab for the rest of his life."

Everything is shown, but one scene is missing from the series

Nevertheless, the team management decided to end the situation with three teammates competing against each other for the win. Several discussions concluded that this could not continue, and those discussions are all shown on camera. "It says a lot about the team that people are allowed to see this," Zeeman noted after viewing the initial footage in Kinepolis Breda.

"It’s always a bit of a struggle between the marketing department and myself. We could easily keep everything closed and shielded, but that’s not who we are. Ultimately, we do this for the fans, to give them insight and help them understand what goes into it. But we shouldn’t reveal everything; it’s not to our advantage. A balance needs to be found."

The crucial conversation of that Vuelta is missing from the series: the discussion with the three team leaders where the decision was made to stop competing against each other. When asked why this wasn’t filmed, Zeeman later said to the press, "I honestly didn’t know it wasn’t filmed. I thought it would be included, so I don’t have an answer for that. The conversation with everyone could have been filmed for me, but it didn’t occur to me at that moment to say, 'hey guys, you need to be here because we’re going to sit down together.'"

Zeeman also admitted that Roglic announced his departure from the team he had raced with for eight years on the morning of the final stage. "It's very hard to understand if you're not in the professional sports world. These are such special characters. Primoz Roglic is who he is because of how he positions himself, but there’s a rough edge to it. I would have preferred if he had said, 'Sepp, you’ve helped me so much, this one’s for you.' But his winner's mentality is so deeply ingrained, you can't take it out."

The series is available to watch on Amazon Prime starting March 16.