Kruijswijk is pleased with the route. “In recent years, the Tour organisation has provided a tough and challenging course. The upcoming Tour contains surprising elements with a climb time trial on the penultimate day and mountain stages in the first week. I am happy with this course. It’s going to be a Tour in which you have to be good from start to finish.”

Four-time stage winner in the Tour Dylan Groenewegen: “It’s a Tour with many uphill stages. I expect that there are four to five real sprinter’s stages. I want to be the best sprinter in the world every year. Winning stages in the Tour contributes to that. It has previously been proven that a GC-rider and a sprinter can work together in a team. I like having lead out guys around me. We are going to carefully look at what opportunities there are for me.”

Team Jumbo-Visma has no line up written out yet, sportive director Merijn Zeeman says. “We have to balance the different options. It is too early to provide a clear view. We do not yet know how many altitude metres there are and whether there are climbs in the final kilometres, for example. We are going to balance our opportunities and plan them well throughout the year. First, we will evaluate everything in detail. Step by step we will determine the line up and the strategy. Our team presentation is on 20 December. By then our plans will have become clear.”

Kruijswijk would like to participate in 2020’s La Grande Boucle. “Nothing has been decided or discussed yet, but if it were up to me, I will return to France. It’s up to the management to figure out what the exact plans are, but I have confidence in them.”

The 32-year-old rider also says that he expects many attacks during the Tour. “You’ll have to be eager to race, because it is a tough race from the beginning. The attackers will have enough opportunities on the many challenging climbs.”

The Grand Départ will be in Nice next year. As usual, the finish is on the Champs Elysees in Paris. The riders will have to conquer 29 mountains of the first, second and third category. What’s new is that all five mountain ranges in France are part of the course. This provides a variety of different types of climbs.

There are few opportunities for time trial specialists. On the penultimate day, only the climb time trial to La Planche des Belles Filles is on the program.

“At first glance, I am not really happy with the course, we would like an individual time trial and a team time trial. These are disciplines that we are good at. It is a pity that they are lacking”, Zeeman says.

Team Jumbo-Visma won the team time trial of this year’s Tour de France. According to him, the team has the qualities to perform well on this course. “We can’t go to the Tour de France with three leaders. Therefore another good option is to spread our chances. For example, winning the Vuelta a España for a second time, but winning the Giro d’Italia is also a fantastic goal of course.”