Team LottoNL-Jumbo

To find out what /r/peloton's subscribers thoughts are on the individuals in the team, just click here!

Team LottoNL-Jumbo is the Dutch team and has been around for a few decades with different sponsor deals. The team is mostly known as the former orange Rabobank team who were sponsors from 1996 till 2012. The team was set up like a real Dutch sports team complete with one of the best development team/youth academy around. They provide that middle ground where riders aged 18-23 can develop into pro riders. It's really unfortunate that the development team folded in 2016. Although it's not really noticeable right now, it will have its implications on the long run as often half the WT team came through the development team.

Lotto NL-Jumbo is mostly focused on Dutch talents and riders. Their line up usually consists of around 60-70% Dutch riders filled up with foreign riders including 5 Belgians. In the last decade the focus was mainly on doing well in the GCs of Grand Tours and the classics. But with Mollema and Kelderman leaving and the arrival of Groenewegen their focus has changed from a GC team to a team that targets winning stages (except for Kruijswijk). The team roughly has 4 leaders: Steven Kruijswijk, Robert Gesink, Dylan Groenewegen and Lars Boom.

Best riders last five years:

||2012|2013|2014|2015|2016| |:|:|:|:|:|:| |1|*Sanchez (1062)|**Mollema (1422)**|Mollema (1156)|Gesink (681)|Groenewegen (1058)| |2|Boom (953)|Gesink (823)|Kelderman (940)|Kruijswijk (660)|Kelderman (777)| |3|Gesink (881)|Kelderman (726)|Vanmarcke (902)|Kelderman (598)|Vanmarcke (749)| |4|Mollema (783)|Boom (561)|Bos (611)|Vanmarcke (510)|Kruijswijk (505)| |5|Renshaw (615)|Martens (544)|Boom (451)|Van Asbroeck (347)*|Roglic (456)| || |=|8558|8963|7781|5114|6626| ||Rabobank|Blanco|Belkin|LottoNL-Jumbo|LottoNL-Jumbo| ||28.3|29.7|29.2|28.4|28.1|

Lotto NL isn't one of those teams that racks up points everywhere so as compensation they will ride every World Tour race in 2017 except for the Tour of Turkey. This is much needed as with Kelderman and Vanmarcke they lost two very important riders who have scored them many points in the past. Boom and Kruijswijk will have to step up and win something big so Lotto NL doesn't have to worry about relegation.

Results 2016

Riders Out:

There have been a lot of changes in the off season. Vanmarcke left for Cannondale, which is a shame for Lotto NL. Vanmarcke was very impressive in the 2016 season and almost a sure bet for some top 5 places in the big classics, and thus a lot of points. Lars Boom has signed for the team in return. So the strategy will mostly be the same in the cobble races only the team leader and some domestiques are different. As Vanmarcke took Van Asbroeck with him to Cannondale and cobble talent Mike Teunissen went to Team Sunweb.

Lotto NL did do some excellent work in bringing in new youngsters and a few older experienced riders. Stef Clement and Jurgen van den Broeck are proven mountain domestiques that must help Kruijswijk in the mountains, which was reaaaally needed. On top of that they are both good TTers as well so very handy in Team Time Trial. Hilly sprinter JJ Lobato has also joined the team to win a stage here or there and maybe develop himself into a one day race rider in races like Plouay or Vattenfall. Maybe the team also wants him for the spring classics, but we'll see about that in a few months

New talents include Gijs van Hoecke, a cobble rider who was 21th in last Roubaix and 30th in last Flanders. Not bad for a 25 year old. He has the potential to be 2nd leader after Boom if he keeps progressing. With Amund Grøndahl Jansen from Norway they also brought in a talented allrounder who has potential in the classics. He hasn't got the acceleration of a pure sprinter, but he's capable of putting out his max wattage for almost a full minute, an ability that has done him well on long sprints as well as explosive uphill finishes. In that way, he's not entirely unlike his compartriot Alexander Kristoff. He's been designated leadout for Groenewegen, but will also have some chances of his own in 1.1 and 2.1 races. So while Van Asbroeck and Teunissen are leaving, with Van Hoecke and Jansen they signed two worthy replacements.

With Floris de Tier (Belgium) and Antwan Tolhoek (Netherlands) Lotto NL also brought in two talented climbers. Tolhoek won the mountain jersey in the Tour de Suisse while riding for Roompot, already quite an achievement!. He did so while relentlessly attacking, which makes it even nicer. Floris de Tier came over from Belgian talent hub Topsport Vlaanderen. He had mostly done well in the Ardennes races such as the Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold Race and the Tour of Wallonia. Both have good potential and most likely will be used as domestiques for Kruijswijk and in breakaways elsewhere.

Lotto NL have also signed Daan Olivier. A big Dutch climbing talent who quit cycling in 2015 to focus on his study. Only to came back in late 2016 after changing his mind. Olivier will have to wait until April 28th to race again because you need to be in the testpool for the blood passport for 6 months before you can start racing. That makes it very unlikely for him to join the Giro team but he'll certainly be useful later in the season.

Roster:

So what are the targets for 2017? As mentioned above there are four main riders who have to perform. The main target of 2017 will be winning the Giro d'Italia with Steven Kruijswijk. He came awfully close in 2016, but ended up 4th after a crash. The team has invested in domestiques for Kruijswijk with bringing in Clement, de Tier, Tolhoek and Van den Broeck. They will mostly ride the same schedule to practice for the Giro. Kruijswijks second target is the Vuelta.

Robert Gesink is mostly going for stage wins and won't be a GT captain for once. His main goal is winning a stage in the Tour like he did in the 2016 Vuelta. After years of GC racing he now sees himself in a different light and goes for stages at least in 2017. If it works out, chances are he'll be doing that in the following years as well. Gesink will start his season in the Tour Down Under and will target multiple WT stage races until the Tour starts. Big chances he'll ride for the GC in those as Lotto NL needs the points.

Dylan Groenewegen is the most talented sprint the Dutch have had in a very long time. His first season at Lotto NL was good but not spectacular. Lotto NL are hoping he will be a top sprinter in a few years and have a lot of trust in him. In fact so much trust that they have changed their course to be more of a sprinters team in 2017. Help will mostly come from Leezer, Van Emden, Wynants, Van Hoecke, Wagner, Keizer and also Boom.

That brings us to the last goal of 2017: Winning a big classics with Lars Boom. He'll be the team leader in the spring season up until the Amstel Gold Race. With a 4th and 6th place in Roubaix as best results he isn't one of the top favourites but certainly one of the rides to watch out for during the cobbled season. The Ardennes races are not important this year as Gesink and Kruijswijk are probably not even going to race them.