Home > News

Jumbo weekend: The Dutch Bees are flying high

A dominant two days for the yellow and black

Photo by: Sirotti
February 27, 2023
Share on SMS

The weekend provided some key wins for some big names in the men’s pro peloton, with world champion Remco Evenepoel nailing down the WorldTour UAE Tour title, Adam Yates scoring the queen UAE Tour stage honours and Julian Alaphilippe beating David Gaudu to win the Faun-Ardèche Classic. But the weekend belonged to the Dutch Bees, as Jumbo-Visma showed their strength to take three victories.

First, Dylan van Baarle, the Paris-Roubaix title holder, won Omloop Het Nieuwsblad solo, teammate Christophe Laporte in third place. Jumbo-Visma triumphed in the race last year via Wout Van Aert.

Next, Tour de France champion Jonas Vingegaard utterly dominated the O Gran Camiño after a false start to the four-stage race. He won three consecutive stages and carried away the laurels. With Sunday’s time trial victory, he finished atop the table, 2:31 ahead of runner-up Jesus Herrada. Vingegaard’s new Hungarian teammate Attila Valter came fourth on GC.

With both Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar on fire in the early season, Paris-Nice, beginning March 5, promises to be an epic pitched battle.

Finally, the second race of the Spring Classics Opening Weekend saw Jumbo-Visma go one-two in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, Tiesj Benoot, coming back from torrid injuries suffered last year in a training ride accident, winning from a five-man move and teammate, and compatriot Nathan Van Hooydonck the runner-up. Laporte placed sixth.

Interestingly, Jumbo-Visma is far down in the current UCI team rankings at 24th, three below the Thailand Continental Cycling Team. UAE-Emirates leads the rankings.

What can Benoot, Valter and the rest of Jumbo-Visma do at Saturday’s Strade Bianche?