Team Jumbo-Visma Celebrates Historic Season with Victory at Gree-Tour of Guangxi
Team Jumbo-Visma’s successful season came to a thrilling conclusion with a stage win and general classification win at the Gree-Tour of Guangxi in China. Milan Vader led the general classification after his stage win and wore the red leader’s jersey for the last two stages. This marked Vader’s first professional victories and he expressed his joy, saying, “It’s great, I couldn’t have asked for more. The way the team fought for it this week, to have it all come together like this, is unreal.”
Vader’s victory was especially significant as he had suffered a crash during the Tour of the Basque Country earlier in the year. Reflecting on his recovery, he shared, “The doctors said they were already happy that I could get back on the bike. My motivation was to get back to my old level. My first professional wins were a stage win and the final classification here in China: I wanted that for a long time.”
Sporting director Merijn Zeeman praised Vader’s incredible journey, saying, “Last year, Milan was fighting for his life. A season and a half later, he wins the final classification of a WorldTour race. This is exceptional. We gave Milan a chance in our team and started to work with him intensively… For him to finish his second season in our team this way is exceptional and completely unexpected. A very nice surprise.”
In addition to Vader’s success, Olav Kooij celebrated his birthday with his thirteenth victory of the season in Guilin. Zeeman expressed his amazement, stating, “Unbelievable, this is extraordinary… Olav is one of the first riders of our development team. He has developed from a young talent to an international top sprinter. We are very proud of that in the team.”
With these victories, Team Jumbo-Visma’s season tally reached a historic 69 victories, making them the team with the most victories in cycling this year. Zeeman proudly announced, “If you add Christophe Laporte’s victory at the European Championships, we have 70… This is by far the best season this team has ever had. We have made cycling history by winning three grand tours in one year. And now, after the week in China, we have reached 70 victories.”
Reflecting on the team’s remarkable season, Zeeman concluded, “There are no words to describe it… It is an unprecedented season, really fantastic. We are always a modest and humble team, but this is definitely something to reflect on. We are very proud of it.”
