"If corona had not started, I might have raced for Visma" - Spring revelation Laurence Pithie reveals he almost signed for Jumbo-Visma after 2019 Track Worlds

One of the revelations of the 2024 season so far, Groupama - FDJ's Laurence Pithie is set for a Grand Tour debut at the upcoming Giro d'Italia. Given his impressive form, the Kiwi is starting with some ambition too.

"It was a very good classic season. At critical moments I occasionally missed that little bit extra at the end of the races, but I think I can be satisfied," the 21-year-old evaluates of his performances so far this year in conversation with In de Leiderstrui. "There is still margin for improvement, but I must honestly say that I surprised myself."

"I haven't done the classics before, so maybe I'm just missing that extra kick. Races like the Tour of Flanders are very long and it is constantly going full throttle, so these are races in which - in addition to the explosiveness, which I do have - it is about endurance," he adds. "I still have to get to know that dynamic, but I was also very enthusiastic about that."

Because of his bright start to the year, including victory at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, a solid Tour Down Under and bright showings at the bigger races such as the Milano-Sanremo, Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, it didn't take long for the big money teams to come circling with BORA - hansgrohe reportedly having secured Pithie's services over the coming years.

Before he burst onto the scene however, Pithie was very nearly on the books at Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "After the Track Cycling World Championships in 2019, I was in contact with Robbert de Groot from the Jumbo-Visma training team. This way I could ride as a junior at WV De Jonge Renner in my last year and I had already spent a week in Zeeland, but then Covid came around and I returned to New Zealand," he recalls. "So if corona had not started, I might have raced for that team and eventually ended up with the Jumbo-Visma training team. But it wasn't meant to happen."

As it is, it's in the colours of Groupama - FDJ that Pithie will be seen at the Giro d'Italia. "I'm looking forward to racing against Olav Kooij and everyone else in the Giro," Pithie concludes. "I'm not going to Italy just to learn, I have ambitious goals: winning a stage, that's what I want."