At the end of the season, it is time for the teams to draw a balance. This is the case for LottoNL-Jumbo who had a very special 2016 with both success and huge disappointments. 

Sports director Merijn Zeeman  has identified the positive and negative moments of 2016 in an interview with Ciclismo Internacional.

“The biggest satisfaction was the unbelievable great performance of Steven Kruijswijk, in the Giro. He had an exceptional level, better then ever. We worked very intensely the last 4 years and seeing him growing and getting better is, for all the people in our team, a big reward. Another highlight was the superb victory of Robert Gesink in the Vuelta. Coming back after so much bad luck. Big respect for him. Last but not least, the Eneco Tour victory of Dylan Groenewegen was awesome,” he said.

Of course the biggest disappointment was the crash of Steve and losing the pink,” he added. “It was a nightmare. The worst day of my life to be honest.

“To be honest, Steven made the click sooner than I did. After coming home he started focusing on the Vuelta already. It’s impressive how he deals with setbacks. Of course I followed in that and together we made the route to the Vuelta.

”The disappointment is still there a bit, but I put it in place to be more motivated then ever to coach him towards his and our big goals.”