Interview | Jumbo-Visma takes stock after Roubaix: ‘I would dare give us an 8.5 score'

Five wins in the classics, but no Monument: that, in eight words, is the story of Jumbo-Visma this spring. Team leader Arthur van Dongen took stock after Paris-Roubaix during an interview with In de Leiderstrui and naturally voiced his pride after a race filled with bad luck.

Arthur, it starts with a T and ends with ough luck....

'Hahaha. I was driving in the first car, so I think I had a good perspective of the race. Soudal Quick-Step also had a lot of bad luck with flat tires on the first cobbled sections, for example, but they all got back into the race. However, we have had so much bad luck at crucial moments that we were never able to make those comebacks. Just look at Dylan van Baarle (crash in Bos van Wallers, injuries are not too bad, ed.), Christophe Laporte (puncture after Bos van Wallers) and finally also Wout van Aert (puncture at Carrefour de l'Arbre). That’s tough luck, indeed.’

You always race with a plan, but how does that work for a Paris-Roubaix? Where there are so many external factors at play?

‘Even in that case, we just race with a plan. The things that happen along the way, you have to deal with those too. We have dealt with everything the best we could here, but we have our limits.’

At a certain point, doesn't that invoke a sense of powerlessness?

'Well, how is all that even possible? We do wonder as well. Some people find that appealing about cycling and normally I like it too, but now not so much. Again, it's just a lot of bad luck and that's unfortunate, but we have seen a very good Wout van Aert. The way he dropped Mads Pedersen in the final stretch – that clearly showed how sharp he still was.’

He also kept up well during some of the accelerations by Mathieu van der Poel....

'Wout was just very good. Unfortunately. It's simply terribly disappointing now, but that's also part of the game. It's up to us to keep our backs straight. We may not have achieved our goals this time, but we are having a fantastic season. 24 wins, five classics in the spring and the last three WorldTour stage races. We'll just have to hang on to that.'

Finally: a grade for the year thus far?

'I have been to many races. And I would give us an 8.5 score. We've had a superb spring and I'm certainly proud of the boys.'