Christophe Laporte joins Olav Kooij to lead Visma's charge at Renewi Tour

Renewi Tour is the next WorldTour race on the calendar. Clashing with Vuelta a Espana, the five-day stage race will attract Classics riders who can reminiscent of the spring with stage that takes on the Muur van Geraardsbergen and many other iconic climbs. Visma | Lease a Bike will primarily aim to score in the first two stages via their sprinter Olav Kooij. The Dutchman returns after absence at the ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg.

"Olav is doing well," sports director Marc Reef begins. "After the Tour de Pologne he fell ill, which meant he couldn’t start in the Cyclassics Hamburg. Fortunately, he was able to put in some good training sessions last weekend and is fit enough to start."

"We aim for stage wins with Olav. The competition in the sprints is strong, but we’ve built a solid team around him. There are several stages where we hope to make use of these strengths," Reef explains.

Next to Kooij, Visma | Lease a Bike will have another star heading for the WorldTour race. Christophe Laporte has been absent from peloton for nearly a whole year, but finally made his return at the ADAC Cyclassics Hamburg. The former European champion still has far to his best level, but we should expect to see him in the mix again at the Renewi Tour.

"With Christophe, we have someone who normally performs well on that kind of terrain," says the Dutch sports director. "Of course, it’s a bit of a wait-and-see how he feels, since this is only his second race of the season. But we know Christophe can reach his level quickly. We’re not putting any pressure on him. It would be great if he can play a meaningful role, but if not, that’s understandable."

Reef is above all pleased that Laporte can finally pin on a race number again. "For Christophe, it’s a huge relief to be back in the peloton, and for us it’s also very positive. Christophe is a fantastic rider to have in the line-up, with an incredible range of qualities."