Interview | Jumbo-Visma confidently heads into the Tour, after powerful Dutch National Championships victory: "All riders are in top shape"

With diesel engine Robert Gesink and Ferrari Olav Kooij in the breakaway, the team took control of the race early on and never relinquished it. In the background, there was a lot of aggressive racing against the top favorite Mathieu van der Poel, who ultimately couldn't or wouldn't respond to Dylan van Baarle's decisive attack ten kilometers from the finish.

"Winning a race this way is perfect, but we have already proven in recent years that we can win," concluded Van Dongen, whose team dismantled Van der Poel. "The strongest rider doesn't always win the race, as we have seen. That applies not only to this National Championship but very often in general."

"I think that doesn't take anything away from Dylan's victory - we were far from stealing it," the sports director continued. "As a team, we were present throughout the day, applying pressure and performing exceptionally well. Was Mathieu the strongest? I believe he was one of the strongest, undoubtedly. But whether he was truly the strongest, we don't know."

The surprise of the day - at least to outsiders - was the presence of co-leader Kooij in the early breakaway. The young, fast Dutchman had Gesink as a pacemaker, which put him in a favorable position. "Robert was crucial. He applied so much pressure in front, allowing the riders behind to benefit from the work of the others," Van Dongen sings the praises of his rider. "Olav was able to enter the final stretch relatively fresh, allowing him to neutralize Mathieu's attacks - so this was textbook execution."

"The initial plan wasn't necessarily to have Olav in the early breakaway, but the idea was not to wait too long," the team director responds to the question of whether this was also planned. "In that way, we wanted to preempt the attacks and be proactive, which was one of our strategies. Olav is capable of riding in the breakaway; he has already demonstrated that in other races this spring. Two riders were truly protected, and both of them were in the final, so it was really great to see," he proudly states.

We noticed that the red-white-blue jersey of winner Van Baarle fit quite loosely around his arms - a sign of good form and a potentially crucial role to come in the mountains of the Tour. "All the riders who are going to the Tour with us are in top shape," states Van Dongen. "His sharpness is not something new that came about in recent weeks. He will definitely be able to keep up on the climbs in support of Jonas, but we already saw last year with riders like Nathan Van Hooydonck that he too can handle performing that task for a long time."

Is that the key to success for Jumbo-Visma in the upcoming Tour - for Van Baarle, Van Hooydonck, Tiesj Benoot and Wout van Aert to form a formidable midfield that can excel in all terrains? "UAE also has a very strong midfield, but we focus on our own strengths, and we simply have a very strong team. Dylan plays an important role in that respect, I'm certain of it," Van Dongen concludes, giving a somewhat open-ended reply to our final question.