‘Squeeze me like a lemon’: Kruijswijk reveals Visma’s historic Vuelta target

Matthew Brennan’s victory in La Rábida on stage 16 brought Visma’s tally to six stage wins at this Vuelta, equalling the most the team have ever achieved in a single Grand Tour. Now, with another opportunity potentially awaiting on Wednesday, they have set themselves a new target.

“We said on the rest day that we have never won more than six stages in one Grand Tour,” Kruijswijk told Eurosport after the finish. “So it’s a challenge, and we accepted the challenge. We have to go for it.”

For Kruijswijk, the pursuit comes with extra significance. The 39-year-old is riding the final race of his professional career, but there has been little sign of a farewell tour so far. Instead, the Dutchman has continued to take on the kind of workload that has become a familiar feature of his role at Visma in recent years.

On stage 16, that meant spending a sizeable portion of the day at the head of the peloton, helping to control the five man breakaway that had gone clear early in the stage.

Kruijswijk had already made his intentions clear to the team before the race.

“I told the team, ‘You can squeeze me like a lemon until the last drop, and I will give it all this Vuelta for the boys,’” he said.

The effort paid off again in La Rábida. Kruijswijk and Jørgen Nordhagen were among the riders tasked with keeping the escape under control before Visma shifted its attention towards positioning Brennan for the sprint.

“It’s always a bit of a game in the beginning,” Kruijswijk explained. “We have the ambition to sprint and a lot of teams know that, so a lot of teams try to go in the break.

“We try to manage the break as well as possible, not to have too many strong guys there. It’s really a chess game in the beginning.”

With Kevin Vermaerke, Valentin Madouas, Simon Dalby, Jasha Sütterlin and Roland Thalmann up the road, Visma kept the gap within manageable proportions. Their advantage briefly stretched beyond two minutes, but the peloton always appeared to have the situation under control.

“Today it was up to me and Jørgen to control the first 130 kilometres,” Kruijswijk said. “We just had to ride the same pace as the five guys in the break and see who suffered first. Luckily, they cracked.”

The escape was eventually reeled in with just over 23km remaining, opening the way for another Visma masterclass in the finale.

Wout van Aert delivered a long lead out in the finishing straight before Brennan powered clear to take his fourth stage victory of his debut Vuelta. Together with Van Aert’s own successes, it moved Visma onto six wins for the race.

Kruijswijk believes the willingness of the team’s leaders to work for one another has helped create the momentum behind that run.

“I think we are really committed as a team,” he said. “When you have guys like Matthew and Wout who are giving a lot to help each other win, it makes the suffering a bit easier.”

For Kruijswijk, there are precious few kilometres left in a professional career that began in 2010. There is no desire, however, to spend them simply enjoying the scenery.