Jumbo-Visma stars laugh at yet another clean sweep: "We should get this in our contracts next"

Jumbo-Visma 1, 2 and 3... It's becoming the norm lately. Even in a European Championship with national teams, the Dutch outfit managed to pull it off with Christophe Laporte (France), Wout van Aert (Belgium) and Olav Kooij (Netherlands) winning all the medals. The main players joked about it afterwards.

Jumbo-Visma is dominating more than ever this season, which was most evident in the Vuelta a España. There, Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard and Primoz Roglic finished on the podium, a scenario that was not immediately expected for the European Championships. However, it was three Cervélo bikes that remained on the last climb of the VAM mountain, sprinting for the gold.

"In the grand tours, it's been shown to us, so we thought: let's just follow that example," says Kooij with a smile, when asked about yet another clean sweep by the Dutch cycling team. 'No kidding: in the end we are all here for our country and we have our own interests. But this does show the strength of Jumbo-Visma.'

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When Laporte broke away in the finale, it was eventually the blocks of his teammates who went after him. Kooij had Mike Teunissen with him, and Van Aert boasted with Arnaud De Lie. According to Van Aert, it felt a bit strange. "It's a tricky situation to go full throttle after him, but you have a responsibility to your compatriots, who have ridden for me all day. I can't come to the bus and say that I didn't chase him because it was a teammate. That's not how it works, I'm here wearing a Belgian jersey and have taken turns with Arnaud in that group."

Kooij also indicates that he only spoke with Teunissen when Laporte broke away, not with Van Aert. "Wout consulted with De Lie and I with Mike. I think we both had the agreement to ride as long as possible, you don't make that arrangement as teammates. I spoke to the guys from Jumbo-Visma at the beginning of the race, mostly about how it's going. After that, it's time for the race and you know you're going to encounter these guys in the finale because they are among the best in the world."

In short: only happy faces at Jumbo-Visma, which according to Van Aert should be happy that no bonuses are handed out for every clean sweep of the team. "We should have that put in our contract soon, haha!"