Jumbo-Visma general manager Richard Plugge has said that rivals Wout van Aert and Mathieu van der Poel can never be on the same team.
The two megastar riders have dominated the sport in the past year, with both achieving incredible things on the bike. They have also been main rivals of each other from an early age racing in cyclocross.
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In an interview with Wielerflits, Plugge said his team have no plans to sign world cyclocross champion Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), despite his meticulous attention to detail which would fit the philosophy of Jumbo-Visma.
Plugge said that Van der Poel has chosen a different path, which includes competing in road events, cyclocross and mountain bike races.
The team boss said: “At Alpecin-Fenix he is the one and only king of that team. The whole squad is built around him there. With us, he would also have to deal with other riders. I don't think he wants to, but I don't think we should either."
In the last two seasons, these two riders have been going at each other hammer and tongs to try and better one another. Wout van Aert has turned himself into an all-terrain rider, winning bunch sprints, time trials, hilly stages along with being up there in the mountains with the very best.
Dutch WorldTour team Jumbo-Visma has been purely focused on their ambition of winning the Tour de France with Primož Roglič in recent seasons, with their Belgian talisman Wout van Aert able to chase results in Classics and individual stages of the Tour, while supporting their chosen general classification leader.
Whereas, Mathieu van der Poel has focused on a specific area that suits him, with that being the punchy stages on short sharp hills as well as the cobbled Classics. However, he has shown that, when he needs to, he can put in some truly amazing efforts on the time trial bike as well as the mountains.
Van der Poel currently races for Belgian ProTeam Alpecin-Fenix and has been pivotal in helping the squad earn a place in the Tour de France and other major races.
"Obviously he is a fantastic rider. And indeed he is currently the Dutch icon." Plugge continued. "On the other hand, there are now five riders who colour cycling: Tadej Pogačar, Julian Alaphilippe, Van der Poel, Van Aert and Primož Roglič. Those are the stars that really make the difference, making people stand on the benches.
"Two of those stars represent our team. We can't have everyone either. Our main sponsor Jumbo Supermarkets also has interests in Belgium and we have the king of Belgium, who is also doing very well.”
The reporter then assumed that Van der Poel and Van Aert could never join forces. Plugge agreed to say they're too similar.
"It's either one or the other. And Wout suits us very well. Everything Wout does, Mathieu does afterwards. He is paving the way for Mathieu, as it were. That is why it is great to have Wout with our team. We are an innovative team."
Plugge explained that Van der Poel has now started to prepare for time trials, much like Van Aert does. As well as saying a 30km time trial should suit Van der Poel as it is similar to a cross country mountain bike effort.
Both riders were battling it out for the yellow jersey in the first week before Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) grabbed control of the race. Since then, Van der Poel has left the race to focus on the mountain bike event at the Olympics where he will go up against the likes of Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers). Van Aert has slipped out of the top-10 in GC and now looking for stage wins and supporting Jonas Vingegaard in his aims for a good GC placing.
