Jumbo-Visma sports activities director Merijn Zeeman has made a robust, if an oblique, indication that the group’s seek for a brand new sponsor to interchange grocery store chain Jumbo could be over.
In a piece of writing with Nieuwsblad headlined: ‘Sports activities director has just right information for Wout Van Aert and co.’ Zeeman first said, ‘It’s now positive that we will be able to proceed to construct on this group within the coming years.’ after which repeated the interviewer’s query: ‘Am I pronouncing the group is confident?’ with the solution, ‘Sure, completely, even supposing I will be able to’t pass into main points.’
Whilst in June it was once reported that Jumbo will forestall sponsoring the group on the finish of 2024, within the interview Nieuwsblad equipped its personal statement that “The title of the brand new sponsor might not be lengthy in coming.”
Whether or not showed or now not, the robust hints a brand new sponsorship deal could be within the bag come precisely every week after it emerged that Jumbo-Visma’s proposed 2024 merger with Soudal-QuickStep was once now not going to happen.
“It’s true that we sat down with Soudal-QuickStep,” Zeeman mentioned within the interview, which was once printed concurrently by means of the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, “however it was once exploratory.”
“We additionally sat down with [Soudal-QuickStep co-leader] Remco Evenepoel, however that was once exploratory too. What fits our group perfect, how reasonable it’s, the benefits and downsides, does it make us higher or now not? That has been explored by means of quite a lot of other people.”
Even if hypothesis that Amazon may well be interested by backing Jumbo-Visma turns out set to stay as hypothesis, closing week, Dutch newspaper AD reported recent rumours that Pon Holdings BV, who owns the group’s motorcycle sponsor, Cervélo, can be a key backer of the group in 2024.
Norwegian trade instrument and IT logo Visma have already made it transparent they are going to stay as a name sponsor, making an investment round €12 million.
Pon Holdings BV is a privately owned Netherlands corporate that still owns Cannondale and different motorcycle manufacturers. They import Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda within the Netherlands and feature dealerships in america for Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin and different luxurious manufacturers. Pon Holdings BV claims their annual revenues exceed €10 billion.
Whoever the sponsor would possibly but be, Zeeman mentioned that the group was once taking a look ahead to proceeding for any other 10 years and that “I will be able to say after our time with Jumbo, we’re getting into a brand new bankruptcy.”
Within the long interview, Zeeman defined how he considered the upcoming departure of Primož Roglič from the group after 8 years and lots of the group’s best wins.
“He indicated that he desires one thing other within the years that stay to him as a bike owner,” Zeeman mentioned, “he desires to make a step to a group that rides for him. “
“Primož has been very open and truthful about this, and we perceive and recognize that, that’s why we helped with the switch.” He recognised, despite the fact that, Roglič could be a powerful rival within the years yet to come.
In 2023 thus far, the group has taken all 3 Grand Excursions and 66 victories, and extra would possibly but are available the previous few races of the season. However Zeeman additionally pointed to a scarcity of a 2023 win in Paris-Roubaix and the Excursion of Flanders, in addition to the opposite Monuments, as gaps that they’d search to fill one day.
“Within the Excursion of Flanders this 12 months, we crossed paths with [winner] Tadej Pogačar (UAE Workforce Emirates) and in Paris-Roubaix, Wout [Van Aert] had unhealthy good fortune and you can not say what would have came about if that hadn’t came about. However we can proceed to paintings intensively in opposition to those objectives within the years yet to come.”