The formation of a Jumbo-Visma women's team, led by former world champion Marianne Vos, has been rumored for over a year and has finally materialized.

The team will start with a Class 2 Continental license, mainly for technical reasons, but will upgrade to a world team the following year and will have the full backing of sponsors Jumbo and Visma until 2023.

Cycling News spoke with Jumbo-Visma women's boss Esra Trump about what it took to secure one of the sport's most iconic athletes and the team's long-term strategy and indefinite future in professional cycling.

News of Jumbo Visma's plans to establish a women's team first surfaced in January, when men's team manager Richard Plagge admitted that the idea was being investigated.

Pragge expanded the Jumbo-Visma organization to include an under-23 development program and a community outreach program through the Jumbo-Visma Academy aimed at developing children's cycling. At the time, he recognized the need to train more girls and women in the sport.

Tromp told Cycling News that the Jumbo-Visma organization, which operates under the umbrella of Blanco Pro Cycling, had grown to the point where it was financially viable to support a women's professional cycling team. The move was also in line with the title sponsor's request to add a women's program, which is directly related to the academy's initiative to attract more girls to the sport.

"We started last year with some conversations at the beginning of 2019, but adding to the team required the entire organization to be ready. This year we started with the academy and the development team, so there was already a big expansion of the organization. Adding a new women's team required the entire organization and all sponsors to be ready," Tromp told Cycling News.

"The dream of having a women's team was always there. With the launch of the academy we support young kids and get them excited about cycling.

"From the point of view of our sponsors, they always wanted to have a women's team, but the organization wasn't ready. Now that they are, it took a few years to get everyone on the same page. We felt it was the right time to expand the women's team. We had sponsors asking for help, and it was really nice to have that kind of support. It was the right time to take the next step, both from the sponsors' and the organization's point of view," Tromp said.

Jumbo Visma will enter the women's professional peloton in its second year of reform in women's cycling. This will result in two teams, the Continental Team and the World Team, which will compete primarily in the Women's World Tour and lower ranked events. Part of this reform includes live television coverage of the Women's World Tour, and the top-ranked teams are required to pay their players a minimum salary along with health and social benefits.

The UCI denied Jumbo Visma's application for a World Team license. This is because it is a new program and according to the licensing rules, a team applying for the highest level must already have held a Continental license at least one year prior.

"We applied for World Tour status and ticked all the boxes except one. There is a UCI rule that a team must have held a Continental license the year before applying for a World Team license," Tromp told Cycling News.

"Our team is completely new, so we don't have a continental license this year. We plan to get a continental license first and then apply for a world team license in 2022," she said.

"The commitment (of the sponsors) is more than a few years, same as the men's team. It's the first three years (2021-2023), but we want to keep it going longer."

The Jumbo-Visma women may be starting their first season as a second division team, but they will have one of the strongest and winningest riders in the world in Marianne Voss.

This multiple world champion's contract with the CCC-Liv women's team ends in December, and according to Tromp, she was looking for a change and a new team that could improve her game in 2021.

Tromp says that negotiations with Voss were very smooth and that a trust and bond between the team and players was quickly established. Jumbo-Visma Women was able to provide Voss with a world-class program, complete with professional organization, training facilities and plans, nutrition and equipment, and an environment where professional athletes can thrive. In return, Voss gives the team proven winners, leaders, and 15 years of world-class experience. She is also a player who can help the team develop new talent.

"In building the team and looking for the right rider, I always had in mind to build a really strong team with a lot of potential and to combine young talent with Marianne, who is one of the best riders in the world.

Vos' professional cycling career has spanned 14 years, with 12 world championship titles in road, cyclocross, and track.

Last year alone, she won 19 races, some of which contributed to her overall victory in the 2019 UCI Women's World Tour; it was one of her strongest seasons since returning from suspension in 2016. That year, Vos won three stages at the Giro Rosa and finished fourth at the Imola World Championships.

Vos has been racing under the same organization for 15 years, albeit under a series of different title sponsors. She began racing professionally with Team DSB-Ballast Nedum in 2006, the same year she won her first elite women's road race world title in Salzburg. Since then, the team has changed titles to Nederland-Breuth, Rabobank Women's Team, WM3 Energy, Waodirs Pro Cycling, and now CCC-Liv.

"We wanted to make it more of a team for her as well. For Marianne, changing teams was a big deal because she had been on the same team for 15 years and had never changed her organization," Tromp said.

"Marianne wanted to change to get better. We could provide the team, organization, training, equipment, nutrition, facilities, etc. that Marianne needed to get better. So she wanted to change. The men's team is great and very focused on nutrition and training. That was one of the main reasons Marianne wanted to change teams."[20

Tromp said the team also had initial discussions with Annemiek van Fruten, but they did not last and the former world champion made the decision to sign with Movistar Team Women in 2021.

"We had several discussions with Marianne Foss first and the trust between us was really high. 'We wanted to focus more on Marianne. We had contact with many other players, but nothing concrete. We also had contact with Anne-Mike, but nothing concrete about running with the team."

Vos is Gyp van den Bos, Lierjanne Marx, Anouska Koster, Nancy van der Burg, Romy Kasper, Arfe Soth, Tüntje Beekhuis, Julie van de Velde, and Pernille Mathiesen, Karlene Swinkels, and Anna Henderson, who will lead a relatively young group of players.

"We had many, over 100 applicants," Tromp says. 'We had a few ideas of who we wanted on the team. For example, Gyp van den Bos (from Boels Dolmans) is a really strong talent who is stepping up but not reflecting his ability.

"In selecting the team, we looked at the races, the results, and their personalities and fit with the team. It is important that the group has a strong bond, shares the same values, and really fits well together. The physical aspect is important to see if they have the potential to produce results and be really good riders. All the aspects we looked at were personal, physical, and values."

Tromp said the team has begun planning to get together in November and December to get to know each other and hold a warm weather training camp in January, but such a project depends on the constraints surrounding COVID-19.

As for the team's goals, Tromp said the focus will be on the Ardennes Classic, Tour of Flanders, Giro Rosa, Postnord West Sweden Val Garda, and the 2021 Ladies Tour of Norway. The team will also support athletes competing in the Tokyo Olympics.

"We want to compete with the best riders. We want to be physical, have a good race, and show ourselves," Tromp said. We want to show what we can do and win."