The year 2023 will have been good for the wasps ! The Dutch team managed to achieve an unprecedented record. Win all three Grand Tours in the same calendar year. A performance that Sky/INEOS almost succeeded in achieving, by winning back to back Tour (2017), Return (2017) as well as Giro (2018), with the difference that this hat-trick did not take place during the same year. A look back at this domination in three stages.
Unlike last year, the forces were divided between the Giro and the Tour. Although the main objective is the big loop, with defending champion Jonas Vingegaard, the Giro has also become a goal, when the Slovenian Primoz Roglic announced his participation in the “corsa rosa”. At the end of the season, the Vuelta also became a goal, with a real dream team present on the Spanish roads, with the usual leaders Roglic and Vingegaard, as well as the luxury team Sepp Kuss.
A giro without domination
At the start of this first grand tour of the season, Primoz Roglic was not necessarily designated as THE favorite. The presence of world champion Remco Evenepoel explained this observation. During the three weeks of racing, the Slovenian will have been good without however managing to add a stage to his list of achievements. We had to wait for the last stage of a Tour of Italy orphaned by the big favorite Remco Evenepoel – non-starter of the tenth stage due to Covid – to see the current Slovenian second in the general classification “knock down” the pink jersey Geraint Thomas on the slopes of Monte Lussari. The former ski jumper therefore wins his first Giro, well helped by Sepp Kuss in particular, with less than 15 seconds ahead of Geraint Thomas. A victory that will open the door to even more impressive ones !
The Jumbo machine is set up on French roads
With a solid team entirely dedicated to Jonas Vingegaard, a great fight against another armada, that of the UAE by Tadej Pogacar, was announced and took place ! A Tour de France, totally dominated by two teams until the morning of the 16th stage between Passy and Combloux. During the first fifteen stages, both Tadej Pogacar and Jonas Vingegaard seemed able to win in Paris. After this time trial and the demonstration of the Jumbos, the final victory seemed to be getting closer and closer for Richard Plugge's team. Two days later, on the slopes of the Col de la Loze, the last hopes of Tadej Pogacar were dampened by a very strong Jumbo-Visma (and by a failure too) around its Danish leader. The last days will be controlled by the yellows and blacks.
The final fireworks at the Vuelta
The Dutch team's dominance reached its climax in the final grand tour of the season. On this Vuelta, the sports directors aligned their two star runners as co-leaders, as well as Sepp Kuss who therefore goes on to a third grand tour in a row ! The latter will also take advantage of a stage taken at the front to get ahead of all his competitors as well as his teammates.. From now on, the Jumbo-Visma continued to crush, making its three leading riders win almost in turn, to finally “offer”, or at least not contest the victory of the American runner, usually so valuable for its leaders ! In the final assessment, we will find three riders from the Jumbo-Visma in the first three places. Simply amazing !
