Laurens De Plus will be racing for Team LottoNL-Jumbo for the next two seasons. According to the nearly 23-year-old Fleming, the formation of manager Richard Plugge offers him the best prospect for the future. “I think this is an ideal team for me”, he explains his choice to ride for the Dutch squad. “Team LottoNL-Jumbo has proven to work well with young riders and to be able to develop them further. Seeing how the team rode in the Tour motivated me. This is a unique opportunity for me to develop further and hopefully to be able to perform well later on in grand tours. The good atmosphere at Team LottoNL-Jumbo is also very important to me.”

According to sports director Merijn Zeeman of Team LottoNL-Jumbo, the ambition of De Plus fits in well with the development that the team is currently going through. “Thanks to Jumbo’s long-term commitment, we are able to look to the long term. We would like to have the greatest talents in our team and therefore we scout intensively in the age category 22 to 25 years. That is the new generation of leaders. We will gradually guide guys like Laurens in this process: from support for our current leaders to opportunities to take the lead themselves.”