[6] Kruijswijk is best known for his strong ability in the mountains where he has taken his greatest success; he has taken two professional victories during his career – a stage win at the 2011 Tour de Suisse, and the general classification at the 2014 Arctic Race of Norway.

He has finished in the top 5 of all three Grand Tours, and was very close to winning the 2016 Giro d'Italia but lost the lead when he crashed into a snow bank on the penultimate mountain stage.

[9] Kruijswijk held the blue jersey as leader of the mountains classification from stages 16 to 18, and placed third in that competition behind Giovanni Visconti and Landa.

[13] However, on stage 19 Kruijswijk crashed on the descent of the Colle dell'Agnello whilst following an attack by Nibali and Chaves, landing on a bank of snow on the side of the road.

[18] Following the disappointment of just missing out on the Giro win, Kruijswijk started the Vuelta a España, aiming to ride a good general classification in the race.

He never reached his form from the previous year in the Giro however, and Kruijswijk abandoned the race in the last days due to illness.

This also put him in good position to compete for a top 10 finish for the general classification, entering the third week in the high mountains of the Pyrenees.

Kruijswijk stayed with the elite riders through the final week and rode a decent individual time trial on stage 20 to finish 5th overall.

Going into his second Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a España, Kruijswijk was awarded the role of team leader alongside George Bennett.

[22] Having dropped to eighth overall by the end of the week, Kruijswijk worked his way back up the general classification and moved into third place overall again, following the stage 13 individual time trial in Pau.

[27] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Kruijswijk rode only three races during the 2020 season – and of these, finished only the Tour de l'Ain (in fourth place).

[28] He withdrew from his other two starts, the Critérium du Dauphiné (with injuries that forced him to miss the Tour de France),[29] and the Giro d'Italia – the latter, following a positive test for COVID-19.

[30] During the 2021 season, he rode at Paris–Nice,[31] the Volta a Catalunya,[32] the Tour de Romandie,[33] and the Critérium du Dauphiné,[34] finishing each race, but placing outside the top 10 in all of them.

[36] He and Sepp Kuss both rode in support of Primož Roglič, who won the Vuelta a España for the third year in a row.

[45] He crashed out of June's Critérium du Dauphiné on the second stage, suffering fractures to his clavicle and his pelvis,[46] which ruled him out of the Tour de France.