I'm not sure excuses/explanations for not being the strongest makes you the strongest. In terms of races, Van Baarle is actually winning and placing more consistently higher in bigger races. But he has the team, Jumbo not so good in one day, that's why I said, his stage racing performances this year have been far superior to one day.
At the start of the classics campaign most people thought Jumbo now had the strongest team and that's still arguable. However they stick to the sole leader thing while Ineos adopted the classic QS tactic of any one of four of five guys could end up being the one given the opportunity.
It'll be fascinating to see if Van Baarle joins them will they still put all their eggs in one basket.