Jumbo-Visma finally won the Tour de France in 2022 and is regarded as the best team in cycling. But the ambitions go further: the Dutch team wants to be a leader in the sports world. With the ‘All Blacks’, the very successful New Zealand rugby players, as a great example.
Alle medewerkers van Jumbo-Visma zijn eind november in Veghel om te proosten op de 48 zeges in 2022, met als hoogtepunt de Tour-overwinning van Jonas Vingegaard. “We hebben het geweldige seizoen één keer heel goed gevierd”, zegt sportief directeur Merijn Zeeman. “Maar daarna zijn we meteen weer verder gegaan met beter worden.”
De boodschap van de teamleiding is duidelijk: genieten van al het succes mag, maar niet te lang. Want een sportploeg die achteroverleunt en denkt dat de goede prestaties vanzelf zullen blijven komen, wordt onherroepelijk ingehaald door de concurrentie. En Jumbo-Visma is niet van plan zijn plek aan kop van het wielerpeloton op te geven.
“Ons belangrijkste doel was altijd om de Tour te winnen. Dat hebben we bereikt”, zegt Zeeman. “Daarom hebben we de afgelopen maanden heel veel gesproken over: wat nu? Ik wil niet hoogdravend klinken, maar het is onze ambitie om een team te zijn dat lang herinnerd zal worden. Zoals de Chicago Bulls van Michael Jordan, het FC Barcelona van Josep Guardiola en Lionel Messi of de ‘All Blacks’.”
Zeeman noemt dat “voorbeeldteams”. “Wij durven ons absoluut nog niet te vergelijken met die ploegen. Maar wij willen net als zij een team zijn dat een verschil maakt. Door prijzen te winnen, maar ook door de cultuur en de manier van spelen. We hopen dat mensen over een jaar of tien zullen zeggen: die geel-zwarte shirts doen altijd mee met de allerbesten ter wereld en staan voor spectaculair en slim wielrennen.”
“Om dat te bereiken, moeten we ervoor zorgen dat iedereen bij Jumbo-Visma constant bezig is met hetzelfde idee: wat ik vandaag doe, is morgen niet goed genoeg meer.”
Een aantal lessen van de ‘All Blacks’
- Veeg de schuur schoon: Wees nooit te groot om de kleine dingen te doen die gedaan moeten worden.
- Pass de bal: Leiders creëren nieuwe leiders.
- Geen eikels: Wees eensgezind.
- Omarm de verwachtingen: Mik op het hoogste.
- Opoffering: Vind iets waarvoor je zou sterven en geef je leven daarvoor.
- Schrijf je nalatenschap: Dit is jouw tijd.
What can Jumbo-Visma learn from rugby?
A week before the party in Veghel, Zeeman and general manager Richard Plugge traveled to England for a meeting that had been on their wish list for a long time. In a hotel in London, the two Jumbo-Visma directors spoke for an hour and a half with their colleagues from the New Zealand national rugby team, including the very experienced ‘General Manager’ Gilbert Enoka.
The ‘All Blacks’ have been the standard in their sport for decades. The New Zealand men became world champions three times, have won more than three-quarters of their matches in 120 years and have been in first place in the world rankings 80 percent of the time this century.
“In rugby, it is hardly a question of whether New Zealand will become world champions,” Plugge says in conversation with NU.nl. “The main goal of our meeting with the ‘All Blacks’ was therefore to find out how we remain number one in the world now that we have reached the top. How do you make your entire organization want to be champions again? you keep raising the bar?”
The ‘All Blacks’ mainly look for those answers in their culture, which was summarized in fifteen points in the 2013 book legacy by New Zealand writer James Kerr. The bestseller was one of the sources of inspiration for Plugge and Zeeman in 2015 when they made a multi-year plan to transform Jumbo-Visma from the least successful to the most successful team in cycling.
“It was very special to meet the men who inspired us for the first time,” says Zeeman, who came into contact with the ‘All Blacks’ through Kerr. “We mainly talked about culture. About fitting young talent into a group. And about creating an environment in which people really grow. It was very educational. And funny to see that they were just as motivated to work with us talk like the other way around.”
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Wout van Aert illustrates culture of Jumbo-Visma
He could have named his victories in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad or the E3 Saxo Bank Classic. Or one of his three stage victories in the Tour de France. But Wout van Aert opts for something else when he is asked at the Jumbo-Visma team presentation at the end of December what his best moment of 2022 is.
“I enjoyed the most when we all stood on the podium in Paris at the end of the Tour,” says the Belgian superstar, while the photo in question is projected on a large screen behind him (see image). at the bottom of this article). “We really race as a team with this team. It is difficult to explain what that means exactly. But if you’ve seen us drive in 2022, I don’t really have to explain it.”
Plugge and Zeeman look on proudly in the theater of Move Amsterdam. Their team’s best rider – arguably the best rider in the world – who puts the team’s interest above his own; they could not have better illustrated the culture of Jumbo-Visma.
“Merijn and I both believe that you can only be successful if your culture is in order,” says Plugge. “And we think the responsibility for that culture lies with everyone, just like the ‘All Blacks’. I saw very clearly in November that the older players are taking the lead and showing the youngsters how to behave. we also go through our standards.”
Zeeman: “That process never stops. And that process determines whether we can remain at this top level. Or even get better.”
