Provisional #TDF2024 roster Visma- Lease a Bike: 🇩🇰 Jonas Vingegaard 🇺🇸 Sepp Kuss 🇧🇪 Tiesj Benoot 🇺🇸 Matteo Jorgenson 🇳🇱 Steven Kruiswijk 🇸🇮 Jan Tratnik 🇳🇱 Dylan van Baarle 🇫🇷 Christophe Laporte
"In Flanders they always criticize everything" - Christophe Laporte annoyed with criticism of Gent Wevelgem win alongside Wout van Aert
CyclingThursday, 28 December 2023 at 13:30
Gent Wevelgem this year was dominated by Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The Dutch team exploded the race and won with a one-two of Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte. The Frenchman won, but was displeased by some criticism that emerged over van Aert not taking the victory.
"But the criticism afterwards was annoying. The media then talked more about Van Aert's gift than about the song that Wout and I performed together," Laporte says in words to Sporza. This wasn't the first time happening, but some argue this shouldn't have happened as the Belgian isn't bringing huge wins into his palmarès. "It was Wout's choice that I should be the first to cross the line in Wevelgem and I was very happy with that. But in Flanders they always criticize everything. When the two of us rode to the finish in E3 in 2022 and Wout won, there was no critical voice anywhere. But after Gent-Wevelgem there was a lot of criticism."
The Frenchman went on to become European Champion later in the year coincidentally ahead of van Aert, however directly beating him this time around. "I'm still one step below Wout and Mathieu. They have a great honors list and are the favorites in every race where they start. I am part of the group of riders among them. It is not always the strongest who wins the race, that is what makes cycling so beautiful," he argues.
Laporte has already achieved a lot since joining the Dutch team "I have already won a Tour stage and classics. The next step is a monument. That is the most difficult objective to achieve, but I am going for it," he admits. Such a versatile rider, he is capable of a lot and was also asked about possibly going for the points classification at the Tour de France. The priority in the team will likely remain the yellow jersey solely for this upcoming season however. "For me, the green jersey is not a goal to win, I would rather win a classic."
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