Visma-Lease a Bike can bounce back at the Classics, but will Matteo Jorgenson or Wout van Aert be the saviour?

Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike)
Matteo Jorgenson (Visma-Lease a Bike) (Image credit: Zac Williams/SWpix)

Two years ago, Visma-Lease a Bike were the dominant team at the Cobbled Classics, taking wins at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, E3 Saxo Classic, Gent-Wevelgem and Dwars door Vlaanderen. They may have lacked the absolute peak to compete with Tour of Flanders winner Tadej Pogačar, and a puncture robbed Wout van Aert the chance to battle Mathieu van der Poel for Paris-Roubaix glory, however, as a unit over the bergs and cobbled roads, Visma looked the most complete.

Fast forward to this year's E3 – a race Van Aert won back-to-back in 2022 and 2023, and the start of a big run of targets – and their best result was ninth, the worst for the well-oiled Dutch machine for four years since Van Aert took 11th in 2021. 

James Moultrie
News Writer

James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.

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