“I'm quite nervous about my return”, Teunissen admits. “It has actually been a long time since I rode a race. And it has been a long time since I have done a race for which I could prepare myself well, because last autumn my preparation was far from good. I am curious how it will go. Last week I went to the physio for some tests and they all looked good. I don’t really have any problems anymore. The trainings of the past period went well and the Tour of Hungary will be my first test.”

The 2019 Tour de France yellow jersey wearer says he’s the type of rider who needs racing to get better. “My base is good, but with some races in my legs I can fine-tune my shape just a bit more. This race is a great stepping stone to the rest of the season, culminating in the Tour de France.”

Back to mid-February. Teunissen crashes on an altitude training camp. A stone in the descent causes the crash. His spring campaign is over. Teunissen experienced a similar situation last year in the run-up to the Tour de France. Then, too, things went wrong on altitude camp and he had to watch from the sidelines. “It was a kind of déjà vu. It made it easier that I went through it last year too. Because of that I knew how to deal with this setback. In the end, I also made myself useful to the team. I kept in touch with the sports directors in the cobbled classics. I passed on some clues and certainly had my value. A kind of ninth man.”

At the age of twenty-eight, Teunissen is by far the oldest rider in the Team Jumbo-Visma selection in the Tour of Hungary. The age of his teammates in Hungary varies between nineteen and twenty-one. Passing on his experience to the young riders is one of his goals for the week. “If I can help those men well and get through the race well myself, then we can call it a successful week. Whether the role of race captain suits me, I can tell after the Tour of Hungary. In every team you always have a number of riders who can pass on that experience. When I just became a professional, I learned a lot from men like Robert Wagner, Maarten Wynants and Jos van Emden. This is very important for a young rider. Hopefully I can teach them something. The structure of our team certainly contributes to this. It is great to go out with a mix of professionals and boys from the development team.”

After that, the focus will be entirely on the Tour de France. “I hope to start the Tour in top shape. Together with the team, I looked at my preparation for the 2019 Tour. We will try to replicate the path taken two years ago with races and an altitude training camp. The Tour of Hungary is the first step in that plan.”