JJ - The sprint will decide.
A documentary about the unique hill sprinter Jacob "JJ" Jefferson
The last day of Le Tour is always emotional but when the peloton of the 107th edition reached Paris, it was particularly emotional as this was JJ's last professional race. After winning stage 5 and 12 of this year's edition, JJ entered the Champs Elysees wearing the
maillot vert for the best sprinter of Le Tour. The 38-year-old once more surprised the experts with a formidable performance during La Grande Boucle! His performance had been so strong over the previous 20 stages, that mathematically nobody could steal the jersey from him in the final stage to Paris (358 points vs 274 by Bogarin). No other rider in the history of RSF has ever defended a Grand Tours points classification and JJ does it twice, at the Giro and at the TDF! JJ collected staggering 61 race wins in his career, but defending the
maillot vert is surely the peak of his career. It is the end of an era.
This documentary is a detailed look behind the scenes of Team Gipfelstuermer and tells the story of the greatest hill sprinter of all time. We are going back in time from JJ's early career as a youth rider and bike courier in New York to his biggest successes at the Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in 2019 & 2020. The documentary brings you as close to the team as possible through interviews with team manager Gip, with former team mates of JJ and with JJ himself. And for the haters, we are also looking at his biggest defeats at the Vuelta 2019 vs. Laurent Bram and at MSR 2020 vs. Ticio Bogarin. The sections of the documentary:
A) Team build-up for the 2019 season
B) Giro d'Italia 2019
C) Le Tour 2019
D) La Vuelta 2019
E) Off-Season 2019
F) Team build-up for the 2020 season
G) Spring Classics 2020
H) Giro d'Italia 2020
I) Le Tour 2020
J) Final Statistics
K) The future of Team Gipfelstuermer
A) Team build-up for the 2019 season
"Do you remember Team High Flyer?", asks Gip, the team manager of team Gipfelstuermer,
"They had this Finnish hill sprinter in 2018. His name was Magnus Jüssi, 63 mountain, 68 flat, 86 sprint, really nice type of rider. We saw him win a few races, including the Belgian classic Scheldeprijs. It was impressive. We started looking for a talented rider like him. But we never knew what a monster we were about to add to the team... "
The scouting department started their search in Scandinavia, where Team High Flyer had found Magnus Jüssi. They found many talented riders. They signed the Finnish domestique Matti Myyry and the Norwegian classics Sigurd Sandvik and Ole Overby. Especially Overby and Sandvik would later become fantastic helpers who created dozens of hill sprints for their leader JJ... But back to the scouting: No hill sprinter was found in Scandinavia. Gip remembers:
"Scandinavia was nice, but we had to think out of the box. Where could we find a strong sprinter, which we could then train in the mountains?" The idea was to search among bike couriers in the U.S. and JJ was finally found among an insane group of bike couriers in Brooklyn, New York. With starting values of 50-55-67-47-81, it was clear that JJ had some deficits in the mountains. Training only on the flat island of Manhattan, that was no surprise. How were they able to transform this young rider into a hill sprinter?
In February 2019, JJ joined the team Gipfelstuermer, at that time a team without direction. They had just lost their best GC rider Fabio Fonda, who finished on podium at Le Tour 2018. They had no real plan and they needed a new captain.
"JJ was just new in the team, when we went to the yearly spring training camp in Sicily.", explains JJ's former team mate Ole Overby,
"We could not believe it. Every day, after 5 or 6 hours in the saddle, JJ asked if he could go climb the Etna. Just for fun. I mean, born and raised in New York, this kid had never seen such a mountain before! He loved it! I think he really brought back the winner's spirit into the team". With good mountain training ongoing, JJ had his first of 61 race wins at Paris-Nice 2019 with only 22 years old. That was part of his Giro d'Italia preparation where he would have his Grand Tours debut:
B) Giro d'Italia 2019
That first Grand Tours for JJ set the tone for his future career. With only 24-years, JJ started the Giro with 63-64-67-47-83. In a 19 teams field , with experienced teams like Pokemonogatari and Lorient, JJ collected two stage wins! The fight for
maglia ciclamino was with Miki Matsubara (Pokemonogatari) and legendary Laurent Bram (Lorient). Gip remembers the young Bram:
"What an excellent rider he was! But he was young at the Giro. He wanted too much. Rosa, ciclamino, azzurra, all mountain stages,.... that was a bit too much even for Bram." This Bram later became 3rd best rider in RSF by eternal points but in this Giro Mariya Takeuchi (Pokemonogatari) stole the
maglia rosa from him and JJ stole the
maglia ciclamino from him. It was only the first of multiple exciting fights between JJ and Bram for a points classification.
JJ's race win counter: 4
C) Le Tour 2019
After winning
maglia ciclamino and training up to incredible 70-64-67-47-84, Le Tour was a totally different race. JJ started as one of the favorites for
maillot vert. Among the 12 teams, Laurent Bram (Lorient) was again the strongest contender for the points classification. As a very positive surprise, JJ won the first stage (the Grand Depart) in Bruxelles, which allowed him to wear the
maillot jaune for one day. JJ's team mate Esteban Echevarria remembers the evening:
"Man, we had so much Champagne that night. I think it hurt our performance for the rest of the tour. But it was so nice for our team to have a rider in yellow." Afterwards, JJ kept collecting points at flat stages, hilly stages and IS. No additional stage wins for him but the he took home his first
maillot vert. The grown up Bram took home his
maillot jaune.
JJ's race win counter: 7
D) La Vuelta 2019
JJ continued training well and reached insane 72-63-67-47-83 before the start of La Vuelta. He dreamt of winning all three points classifications of the three Grand Tours, a challenge which has never been completed by any rider in RSF! Main reason being that Le Tour and Giro usually provide a lot of mass sprints while La Vuelta often has so many mountain arrivals that it is impossible for sprinters to win the
maillot verde. In a group of 14 teams, Bram and JJ dominated the whole group. 6 stage wins for Bram, 5 stage wins for JJ. The whole group? No. Again Mariya Takeuchi stole the
maillot rojo from Bram.
"I couldn't believe that Laurent again put so much effort in the stage wins but so little in GC.", complained JJ in an interview after both riders finished with the same number of points. Same number of points meant that Bram wins the
maillot verde. Today JJ feels different about it:
"La Vuelta is La Vuelta. Unfortuantely, the maillot verde is made for climbers and a climber won it. I understand that Bram had so much fun winning stages. Takeuchi also had a very strong team and manager, so it is understandable that Bram went for stages instead. In addition, this small defeat gave me the power to prepare for another season 2020 mentally."
JJ's race win counter: 14
E) Off-Season 2019
Gip is very honest about financials and the motivation at the end of the year:
"The end of the year is tricky. Every serious team has to ride for money for the real season, but the Campeonato and the December Tour are actually nice races, so makes fun to bring a good team, too." The team took part in a number of interesting races. The healthy Bram vs. JJ rivalry continued at the Campeonato de los Andes, the most prestigious off-season race, where JJ collected 3 stage wins but Bram took home GC and points classification. In addition, the team participated in the December Tour "Philippines Tour" and many one day races. JJ collected victory after victory after victory.
JJ's race wins counter: 24
F) Team build-up for the 2020 season
"Let's be honest. January and February are really the boring months of RSF. Normally it is all about saving money for the real season.", confirms former team mate Kaapo Kemppainen,
"but that year was different. JJ, Sigurd and Ole were all at their top skills late as they joined our team so late in 2018." The team continued to take part in races, mostly one day races. JJ continued to collect victories.
More importantly, the manager had the challenge to re-build the team around JJ for 2020. The most important classic riders of 2019 (Sandvik and Overby) were about to retire and it was clear that JJ might downtrain at some point, so we needed an even better team around him. So the team needed new classics: Theo Thornquist and Quirin Quathammer were signed (less downhill but more sprint than Sandvik & Overby). Moreover, Adrian Arvidsson and Chris Cooper joined to become 60-85 helpers for creating those mass sprints without flat sprinters.
"Our strategy was clear: If JJ downtrained, we needed strong 60-85's to bring him back after a sieb and if we were not able to bring him back, we would at least have Theo or Quirin in front to steal the win."
Newspapers also had rumours about the team signing a young climber to become a GC team for 2020, but Gip explains why that never happened:
"We were in talks with some young climber talents, but these guys are spoilt these days! They have something like 71-54-60 and want a big lamborghini plus the leader role... that was not possible with a living legend like JJ in the team!"
JJ's race win counter: 41
G) Spring Classics 2020
While JJ was too young in 2019 and basically missed the Spring Classics, it was clear that he would compete in some races in 2020. The main goal for the team was MSR, while races like LBL, Amstel, Scheldeprijs, De Panne or Harelbeke were also a fit for a guy like JJ. Unfortunately, most of the races were too difficult for the team:
"You know, we had one big problem in these races. JJ had become too much of a focus points for others. Everybody focussed on him, the team had to work extremely hard from km1.", remembers Gip,
"maybe we did some mistakes, too... we should have let other favorites work in the peloton or bring a second leader to these races." A good example is MSR 2020. The team controlled 291km all alone, while other hill sprinters like Bogarin (Big Donkey) and Söderberg (Liquigas-CND) even send some of their team mates in escape groups. Maybe with a more aggressive style, the team's sprint train could have been stronger and somewhere save that 1 pixel that was missing for JJ vs. Bogarin. But at least JJ was able to secure one spring classic win: De Panne, the most underrated UCI world tour race. (So underrated that it was put in kat3 in the palmares although in previous years it was kat4 as every WorldTour one day race...grrr) JJ has its own view on that:
"Being 2nd in San Remo was frustrating, but that is cycling. Look at real life cycling. Sagan never won MSR, although he is an incredible hill sprinter, too. And for De Panne I am more than happy, that I won this race. My name is next to real life guys like Chavanel, Gilbert, Viviani and Groenewegen who have won this race in recent years."
JJ's race win counter: 53
H) Giro d'Italia 2020
Riding the afternoon edition, this race was really well covered in the forum and chat by Big Donkey, Team FL and Feiting Siebing, all friendly and communicative guys usually. JJ started with skills of 72-62-63-45-81. It was the first time that JJ competed mainly versus flat sprinters for a Grand Tours points classification, which made it a very different race as compared to the Bram vs. JJ fights. In a group of 16 teams, the sprinters Eduardo Spohr (Team FL) and Giorgio Tuttobene (Falkenbier) really stood out and delivered a super tight race vesus Gipfelstuermer's hill sprinter team. The fight for
maglia ciclamino was open until the last mass sprint (stage 19) and JJ eventually won with 242 points ahead of Tuttobene (236) and Spohr (222). The remarkable part really was that JJ did this with 36-years.
"I have to thank Bastien Boulanger. He is an incredible launcher and I am really happy that we had him in the team for all the mass sprints."
JJ's race win counter: 55
I) Le Tour 2020
With more and more downtraining (JJ now 67-56-59-40-78) and 38-years, Le Tour was supposed to be a relaxed Grand Tours for JJ, but the peloton with 9 teams had "only" 4 stronger sprinters, all of whom with less mountain skill than JJ.
"It was fantastic. After defending maglia ciclamino, I had zero pressure from the team. With less weight on my shoulders, riding and sprinting felt much easier.", describes JJ. The truth is probably that the young guys Boulanger and VanDerVeen (both excellent sprint launchers) made it possible for JJ to beat the flat sprinters. Interestingly, JJ had a contract with Gipfelstuermer until 31 August 2020, but Gip explained why he allowed him to quit earlier:
"Obviously, a guy like him with 60+ mountain and 70+ sprint could still be helpful to the team, but there is very limited time until the start of Vuelta and it would not be O.K. to downgrade JJ from captain to a launcher for Bastien or Dries." So after two stage wins and defending
maillot vert at Le Tour 2020, JJ can happily leave the peloton for more free time:
"It is the right time to say goodbye. Of course I would have liked to ride the Vuelta 2020 and the World Championship 2020, but RSF rules do not allow a 40-year-old guy like me. Probably it is better for my health!"
JJ's race win counter: 61
J) Final Statistics
Jacob "JJ" JEFFERSON
Starting Values: 50-55-67-47-81, 45reg
Best Values: 72-65-67-47-84, 45reg
End Values: 65-54-57-39-76, 45reg
Bought: 01.02.2019
Retired: 19.07.2020
Races: 342
Eternal Points: 24,214
Race Wins: 61
Grand Tours Stage Wins: 12
Classic Wins: 1
Points classifications: 9
Grand Tours points classifications: 4
RSF Records broken by JJ
★ First rider to win 2x
maglia ciclamino
★ First rider to win 2x
maillot vert
★ All-Time Nr.1 in
Grand Tours points classification wins (4, no rider has 3, many have 2)
★ All-Time Nr.1 in
Grand Tours with stage wins (5, no rider has 4, many have 3)
★ All-Time Nr.1 Sprinter in eternal points (24,214 vs. 21,177 by Ludvig Quist (Wookie))
★ Oldest rider to win a Grand Tours points classification (38 years and 19 days)
Team-internal records broken by JJ
★ Most race wins (61 vs. 12 by Fabio Fonda)
★ Most Grand Tours stage wins (12 vs. 3 by William Washington)
★ Most points (24,214 vs. 16,516 by Fabio Fonda)
Selected RSF records not broken by JJ
- Bernard Billourd (Trekken Racing) remains rider with most race wins (73 vs. 61 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 2)
- Taiga Aisaka (r Sukuran Pokemon) remains rider with most points (35,537 vs. 24,214 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 19)
- Laurent Bram (Lorient) remains rider with most Grand Tours stage wins (18 vs. 12 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 5)
- Ludvig Quist (Wookie) remains rider with most points classifications (12 vs. 9 by JJ, who is All-Time Nr. 8)
- Thomas Dressen (Team Trojer Vellau) remains youngest rider to win a Grand Tours points classification (23 years and 27 days vs. 25 years and 2 days by JJ)
--> Statistics in the first post are updated of course.
K) The future of Team Gipfelstuermer
"I hope they sign somebody for GC", said JJ,
"The team has done a phenomenal job in supporting me. Gip has learned how to build a team, how to control a peloton. I hope they find somebody who can compete in GC, and not only points classification 
" Gip himself is smiling about that comment.
"It could be an option. It is time to go after the big wins perhaps. Boulanger could be the guy for MSR 2021, Brandt could be the guy for RVV. But we still need somebody for the Grand Tours. Big goals for 2021!"
To all other managers, please comment on JJ's career and tell me your suggestions on what riders to buy for 2021. Classic with TT? Mountain with TT? One or two climbers? Wait until Giro 2021 and TDF 2021 route are released?
Willem DE WIT - 
Maillot Vert 2021
Maglia Ciclamino 2020 
Gipfelstuermer - 
Classement par équipes 2018
Fabio FONDA - 
Mateo MONTESINOS - 
Maglia Azzurra 2018
Oscar OLIVEIRA - 
Gran Premio de la montaña 2017
Alexis AÏNOUZ (2x Giro '24, 1x TDF '24)
Magnus MARTINSEN (2x TDF '18)
Bastien BOULANGER (1x TDF '20, 1x Vuelta '20)
Marco MEDINA (1x Giro '23, 1x TDF '23)
Carlos CHIMBO (1x Giro '19)
Trevorvano THOMPSON (1x Giro '19)
Matti MYYRY (1x TDF '19)
Pavlo POULNIKOV (1x TDF '23)
Yotam OTTOLENGHI (1x Giro '24)
Klaas KEMP (Ronde van Vlaanderen 2024)
Boas BERGSTEINSSON
Theo THORNQUIST
Famara FAYE
Karim KHAIR
Carloe TEVEZ
Bernard BILLOURD (Trekken Racing, 2018)
Javier CORDERO (Team Franconia, 2011)
Esteban TRUEBA (Alkworld, 2010)
Yui YUIGAHAMA (pokemonogatari, 2019)
Willi WOLLSCHLÄGER (RV Allagen, 2012)
Kralju KRALEV (Ariostea, 2009)
Sueito PURNOMO (Team Lulu - Lombardia 2010, MSR 2011, LBL 2011)
Adrian BONILLA (Los Ticos - Lombardia 2009, LBL 2010)
Yossef GUTFREUND (RV Allagen - Lombardia 2013, MSR 2014)
Koli KOKNOKA (Cycling Polski - RVV 2007, PR 2007)
JesusRafael SOTO (Alkworld - RVV 2018, PR 2018)
Connor WILSON (Mosca Cicli Italia, Giro 2017)
Stephen MANIC (EXOCDS, 2011) 
Paquito ORTIZ (Liquigas-CND, 2016)
Martin KRASNY (Erzgebirge, 2018)
Naomi BROWN (RideforMoney, 2018)
Georgi SVIRIDENKO (Freudenfeuer, 2019)
Gasper KATRASNIK (SM Team; Giro 2016, TDF 2016; 5 GT stage wins)
Jensen BORGMESTER (ritchie-sport; Giro 2007, Vuelta 2007; 3 GT stage wins)
Szilveszter KOVAGO (SM Team; Giro 2014, TDF 2014; 3 GT stage wins)
Kristian KAPUSTA (70-56-70-63-58, 51reg, 53pavé) joins the team. Could be our leader for the 2021 GT's! But depends a lot on his training and the route of the Giro and Le Tour to be presented later this year.