Jumbo-Visma's 2023 Grand Tour dominance, rivals react on the Cycling Show - 'We have some work to do'

ByYara El-Shaboury

Updated 25/09/2023 at 13:08 GMT

After their Giro d'Italia (Primoz Roglic), Tour de France (Jonas Vingegaard) and La Vuelta (Sepp Kuss) clean sweep in 2023, rival teams discuss how "difficult" it has been to keep up with Jumbo-Visma this year. Larry Warbasse claims several riders are "fed up" with their dominance, and former cyclist Juan Manuel Garate worries teams don't have enough resources to catch up.

Jumbo-Visma's dominance has left other riders "fed-up" and everyone feeling as though they "have some work to do" during the off-season, AG2R-Citroen's Larry Warbasse has said.

Jumbo-Visma had a remarkable performance at the Vuelta a Espana, with Sepp Kuss, Jonas Vingegaard, and Primoz Roglic securing the top three positions on the final podium, with a mere 1'08" gap between them. Additionally, the trio clinched five stage victories on the way.

The Dutch team's performance this season stands as one of the most dominant in the history of cycling, becoming the first team since Kas at the 1966 Vuelta to accomplish a clean sweep of the podium at a Grand Tour. Moreover, they are only the third squad since then to achieve such a feat in any major stage race on the calendar.

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"It's difficult for a lot of us because there haven't been many opportunities for a lot of us on this Vuelta," Warbasse said on the Eurosport GCN Cycling Show, which will air from 17:30 UK time on September 26.

"I would say normally, the Vuelta is one of the best Grand Tours to come to, to go for your chances in the breakaway, to try and win a stage like that.

"We knew already before the start, there was such a good start list, not just Jumbo but UAE, Remco and everyone, but Jumbo has been snatching everyone.

"It makes it tough because even on the last days you can try and get in the breakaway, but then the breakaway doesn't go to the line either. It has been a pretty closed race, and it is not easy when you're trying to get something out of the race.

"A lot of guys are suffering and are a bit fed up, but that is what it is. Jumbo are a level above almost everyone else in the race right now and I think it's going to force a lot of teams to go back to the drawing board this winter and try to catch up.

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"I think it's maybe a little bit like Sky back in the day when they really started to take off," referring to the team from the 2010's that dominated under Dave Brailsford.

"It took a few years for them to get rolling, and then once they got everything into place, they were really here. All the other teams looked at all the different places where they could try to catch up, and I would say most people bridged the gap, so I think we're going to see the same thing again with altitude cams, equipment, really looking at all the details.

"I think all of us, all the other teams, have some work to do. Whether we like it or not, they are the best, they have every right to win every stage."

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However, former rider Juan Manuel Garate, who is now the sports director at EF Education-EasyPost, believes that this Jumbo-Visma team is different from Team Sky, and they will be tougher to beat.

"We saw this with Sky too, when they arrived. They began to innovate. I think that was good for cycling because in the end, we all had to push ourselves.

"The difference is now we already believed that we are at a certain level. I don't want to tell you that we're comfortable. Far from it because we continue to evolve, but we thought that we were at that level to be competitive.

"In the end, we see that, no, there are still differences, and we're still already starting to run out of resources. We've seen that they aren't only dominating the Giro and the Tour, they are dominating the Vuelta, and that is leaving very few options for smaller teams.

"They are making it very difficult for us, and the morale of riders is also going down."

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