Jumbo-Visma sports director Merijn Zeeman has made a strong, if an indirect, indication that the team's search for a new sponsor to replace supermarket chain Jumbo may well be over.
In an article with Nieuwsblad headlined: ‘Sports director has good news for Wout Van Aert and co.’ Zeeman first stated, 'It is now certain that we can continue to build in this team in the coming years.' and then repeated the interviewer’s question: ‘Am I saying the team is assured?’ with the answer, ‘Yes, absolutely, although I can’t go into details.’
While in June it was reported that Jumbo will stop sponsoring the team at the end of 2024, in the interview Nieuwsblad provided its own assertion that “The name of the new sponsor will not be long in coming.”
Whether confirmed or not, the strong hints a new sponsorship deal may well be in the bag come exactly a week after it emerged that Jumbo-Visma’s proposed 2024 merger with Soudal-QuickStep was not going to take place.
“It is true that we sat down with Soudal-QuickStep,” Zeeman said in the interview, which was published simultaneously by the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf, “but it was exploratory."
"We also sat down with [Soudal-QuickStep co-leader] Remco Evenepoel, but that was exploratory too. What suits our team best, how realistic it is, the advantages and disadvantages, does it make us better or not? That has been explored by a number of people.”
Although speculation that Amazon might be interested in backing Jumbo-Visma seems set to remain as speculation, last week, Dutch newspaper AD reported fresh rumours that Pon Holdings BV, who owns the team’s bike sponsor, Cervélo, will be a key backer of the team in 2024.
Norwegian business software and IT brand Visma have already made it clear they will remain as a title sponsor, investing around €12 million.
Pon Holdings BV is a privately owned Netherlands company that also owns Cannondale and other bike brands. They import Volkswagen, Audi, Seat and Skoda in the Netherlands and have dealerships in the USA for Porsche, Ferrari, Aston Martin and other luxury brands. Pon Holdings BV claims their annual revenues exceed €10 billion.
Whoever the sponsor may yet be, Zeeman said that the team was looking forward to continuing for another 10 years and that “I can say after our time with Jumbo, we are entering a new chapter.”
In the lengthy interview, Zeeman explained how he viewed the imminent departure of Primož Roglič from the team after eight years and many of the team's top wins.
“He indicated that he wants something different in the years that remain to him as a cyclist,” Zeeman said, “he wants to make a step to a team that rides for him. "
"Primož has been very open and honest about this, and we understand and respect that, that’s why we helped with the transfer.” He recognised, though, Roglič would be a formidable rival in the years to come.
In 2023 so far, the team has taken all three Grand Tours and 66 victories, and more may yet come in the last few races of the season. But Zeeman also pointed to an absence of a 2023 win in Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders, as well as the other Monuments, as gaps that they would seek to fill in the future.
“In the Tour of Flanders this year, we crossed paths with [winner] Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and in Paris-Roubaix, Wout [Van Aert] had bad luck and you cannot say what would have happened if that hadn't happened. But we will continue to work intensively towards these goals in the years to come.”
