“I feel at home in this team”, Bouwman explains his contract extension. “Since the first race I rode as a professional, I have been part of this team.” Just like Bouwman, Kuss never considered to change teams. “They gave each one of us the confidence that we can make the steps to develop”, the American said. “It’s a really fair team. It makes sense to stay with that progression.”

Tolhoek agrees. “Everyone has been riding here for a long time already. That’s for a good reason. In this team, people work to make everyone better. That’s why I think we all want to stay. This results in us occasionally standing out. We hope to do that more often in the future”, the Dutchman, who rode the Vuelta and Tour before, said.

Plugge is happy with the contract extension of his pupils. “They’ve developed here and they’re showing amazing things. They are growing into sidekicks for one of the biggest contenders here in the Giro d’Italia. I think it’s very cool that this has grown so much in our organisation.”