LottoNL Jumbo will have a strong team at the Tour de France with Robert Gesink, Wilco Kelderman, Laurens Ten Dam and Steven Kruijswijk. The last showed during the last Giro d’Italia he was one of the best climbers in the world and came away with a creditable seventh overall. But  the question for now is how well has the Dutch rider recovered after the Giro d’Italia.

"That’s a bit of a question mark for myself", he explained according to Cyclingnews. "I’ve taken some rest, about two weeks, and then spent some time at altitude and done two weeks of training there. I came out tired from the Giro but I think that with some good rest and some good training my levels are still good."

With a good results from the Giro, he feels more confident. "I’m looking forward to the Tour. It’s a different approach but I can go into the Tour with already having a good result from the Giro and that makes it mentally a bit easier. I’m still focused but I’m also more relaxed. Maybe that’s a good way to start the Tour and then I’ll see what I can do in the second and third weeks."

Even if he hopes to shine on climbs, he was selected to help his leader. "We’ll support Robert and Wilco at the start and I have to sort my own way through those stages. Hopefully I’ll get through the first rest day and then we’ll start the mountains. If I don’t lose too much time in the first week, we’ll see."

But Kruijswijk would like to win the mountains jersey. If he will win this classification, he will be the first Dutch rider to win it since Gert-Jan Theunisse (26 years). "I’ll try to go on the attack for stages and in the back of my mind I’ll think about the KOM jersey. I’ve looked at the finish to Plateau de Beille as it was close by to where I was training. I know that finish is hard but of course I’m looking forward to the penultimate stage on Alpe d’Huez because I’ve never ridden there before."