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Teams & Riders Team Visma - Lease a Bike

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I think the team is strong enough. If anything, it seems built around Ving's one known weakness which is losing a few seconds here or there on hilly/cobbled type of stages. Once we get in the high mountains it doesn't look like he needs any help if last year was any indication. The one worry I'd have if I was a fan of Ving is that he has no Roglic type of teammate. Nobody who could be used to tire an overly aggressive Pog out. How much did that matter last year? Was Pog going to lose regardless? Who knows, if anything UAE has it with Yates. It'll be interesting , especially if Pog is 100%
 
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The Giro team wasn't that strong, they just had 7 guys there with 30 guys left then with 15 left only Kuss would be there. And that's in very depleted Giro field.

I think Koen Bouwman is a better climber than 6 of the names in this TdF selection.

I predict Vingegaard is going to be isolated pretty quickly on the climbs tbh, i.e. with Kuss there or thereabouts depending on how he's recovered from the Giro. But Kruijswijk? I get he's a sort of talisman of the team etc. but considering the outlay on transfers in recent years, I don't see how he makes the 2023 TdF team if Jumbo hadn't focused so much on recruiting classics riders.

Benoot, Laporte & Dylan van Baarle are all recent transfers who were part of that push Zeeman made towards building a strong classics team around WvA. I think it's a bit of an imbalanced squad, i.e. amazing on the flat & small climbs, whilst weak in the mountains.

It's no big deal though because that won't be what decides the Tour, i.e. it'll be Vinge versus Pogacar in a man against man duel. And I think the rider of the two who needs to be the most aggressive & spend the most energy going on the attack will be the one who loses.
 
I think Koen Bouwman is a better climber than 6 of the names in this TdF selection.

I predict Vingegaard is going to be isolated pretty quickly on the climbs tbh, i.e. with Kuss there or thereabouts depending on how he's recovered from the Giro. But Kruijswijk? I get he's a sort of talisman of the team etc. but considering the outlay on transfers in recent years, I don't see how he makes the 2023 TdF team if Jumbo hadn't focused so much on recruiting classics riders.

Benoot, Laporte & Dylan van Baarle are all recent transfers who were part of that push Zeeman made towards building a strong classics team around WvA. I think it's a bit of an imbalanced squad, i.e. amazing on the flat & small climbs, whilst weak in the mountains.

It's no big deal though because that won't be what decides the Tour, i.e. it'll be Vinge versus Pogacar in a man against man duel. And I think the rider of the two who needs to be the most aggressive & spend the most energy going on the attack will be the one who loses.
Benoot is good on proper mountains if tthe weather is bad and Van Baarle is still a bit underrated as a climber, but the guy is a monster workhorse in gts.
If Wilco does well in the Tour de Suisse I#d bring him as another guy for the mountains.
 
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It would be pretty ironic if the Giro selection was better in the mountains than the TdF team.

There's also a massive elephant in the room when it comes to Jumbo & the Tour, i.e. they take their biggest names. That's all. So the fact it's got a real classics vibe is really just a reflection of 'who' the biggest stars in the team are.

It seemed to work out okay for Jumbo last year though, so we'll see.
Okay is an understatement. They were incredible last year in every terrain, and even with Kruijswijk and Roglic out, they were still good in the Pyrenees.

Benoot, Van Baarle and Wout can climb well in shape as well all know. As long as Kuss is good, they should be good.
 
They had 51 million of losses last year. Then 10 million suddenly becomes a lot.

reported as the worst results theyve ever posted, and that they have struggled in Belgium specifically for profitability.

meanwhile the Schwarz Gruppe, who basically operate Lidl, report profits of 154billion, and its Lidl Germany who published the press release announcing the sponsorship, and specifically word it as two international brands coming together.


I think its big Lidl funding this, not one of the regionals like Lidl belgium
 
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While I think Kelderman should have had a place on this team, Van Aert, Van Baarle, Van Hoydonck, Laporte and Benoot give a massive amount of fire power for the flats/hills. If Pogačar is caught out in a split he is going to be in a lot of trouble.
That's 5 classics guys and 3 climbers. I think 4+4 would be a safer balance. With Van Aert, Van Baarle, Laporte and Benoot they would still have crazy fire power for flat even without Van Hooydonck.

But we've all seen Van Aert, Van Baarle and Benoot climb like if they were pure climbers on occasion so it's very likely they will be OK.
 
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