He could also be quitting the staff quickly, however Mike Teunissen couldn’t have hoped for a greater ‘leaving current’ from present squad Jumbo-Visma because the Dutchman inherited the Vuelta a España lead from teammate Robert Gesink throughout stage 2 in Utrecht.
The Dutch racer insisted that even when he took fourth in Saturday’s stage 2 dash, after receiving staff chief Primož Roglič’s permission within the last kilometre to attempt his luck, he has no intention of letting his Vuelta lead have priority over Roglič’s GC choices.
Already the chief of the Tour de France in 2019 within the first week of the race, Teunissen stated that his fundamental mission was to guard the Slovenian within the Vuelta, and he echoed Gesink’s phrases on Friday night by saying their choice to place him within the purple jersey was one he felt was “particular and an indication of the staff’s confidence in me.”
The staff’s choice was arguably an much more notable one than with Gesink on condition that Teunissen is leaving Jumbo-Visma on the finish of the season for one more squad, Intermarche-Wanty-Gobert Materiaux.
As Teunissen put it, he’s shifting on as a result of Jumbo-Visma “has been going higher than I’ve been within the final years” and he praised each his present staff for being “top-of-the-line groups on this planet, if not the perfect” and his new squad for “rising in some methods as Jumbo have finished already.”
“To get this jersey is one thing out of the blue,” Teunissen, fourth within the bunch dash at Utrecht, instructed reporters. “To listen to that they needed me to get within the lead and to really feel that degree of confidence in me is kind of particular.”
Nonetheless, whereas not fairly ruling out going for one more dash on Sunday in Breda, wryly answering “ask the staff!” when that risk was raised, Teunissen insisted that Roglič’s pursuits got here first.
“Jokes aside, my activity is to maintain Primož out of the wind, and after I acquired a little bit of room to go for it, within the final kilometre he instructed me it was okay to attempt to dash.”
“For now, it’s not a purpose, though perhaps afterward within the Vuelta.”
Additional down the road, Teunissen he stated that if he was leaving Jumbo-Visma it was with the hope that he would have the prospect to participate in races just like the Tour and the Classics, races the place Jumbo’s latest degree of success had more and more restricted his choices on participation.
“I’m not 29, I’m on the level of my profession the place I’ve to make decisions about what I’d love to do,” Teunissen stated.
“However for now, I’m focussed on this Vuelta, not trying forwards to subsequent 12 months. We’ll get via this race after which we’ll see.”
