Having previously seemed in a rut, Dutch cycling has seen something of a revival of late, with Belkin securing sponsorship for the future, Lars Boom taking an epic stage win in the Tour de France and hype continues to increase towards the 2015 Tour de France Grand Depart in Utrecht. There was also confirmation that for 2015, there would be a Dutch Pro Continental team, Rompoot-Orange.

LottoNL-Jumbo DS Merrijn Zeeman is confident that the recent surge in cycling in the Netherlands is not for the short term, but will last a while.

"The great thing for us is that Dutch companies are more interested in cycling again, and this is certainly a good time to be in the sport," Zeeman told Cyclingnews. "Our new sponsors are big companies that are very excited about getting into pro cycling, which is a really positive step forwards for the sport in Holland because we’ve had some bad publicity in the recent past."

Zeeman says the team’s presentation in Utrecht last month created a huge buzz, not least because next year’s Grand Départ takes place in the city. "It’s given a real boost to Dutch cycling. Some of our guys already experienced a home start in Rotterdam in 2010, but for many of the others this is likely to be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity," said Zeeman.

"But we’ve guys like Wilco Kelderman, who’s from close to Utrecht, and they are going to be hugely excited when the Tour comes and they’re racing on their home roads. Everyone in Holland is excited by the prospect, in exactly the same way that people in Yorkshire were this year."

Kelderman will make his Tour de France debut in July and will have able helpers and older guys to rely on like Robert Gesink and Laurens ten Dam at the LottoNL-Jumbo squad, previously Belkin.