Matteo Jorgenson "has specifically worked towards these races" - Visma have high hopes for American at Ardennes classics

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have ended their cobbled classics campaign on a high note with Wout Van Aert's Paris-Roubaix victory, and now they switch their focus onto the Ardennes. Here it will be Matteo Jorgenson who will be in charge of leading the team, after skipping the cobbled classics this year and having a more focused preparation towards the late-April period.

"If you're talking about someone for whom everything has gone flawlessly up to now, that really only applies to Matteo. He is feeling very good at the moment," Mathieu Heijboer, head of performance at Visma, told Wielerflits. “Matteo has specifically worked towards these races. There are no reservations whatsoever regarding his recovery from altitude. I won’t make any bold statements, but there are no excuses regarding Matteo".

It was a change revealed in January back at the team's media day in La Nucia. Jorgenson would not race the cobbled classics or Paris-Nice, his usual schedule; but instead race Tirreno-Adriatico, Milano-Sanremo and the Ardennes. A complete switch up. In March, he was on the podium of the Italian stage-race, and assisted Van Aert in pursuit of the podium in Sanremo.

After an altitude camp, he is now back to racing for the three Ardennes classics, where he is going to be one of the strongest at the start. "These three races – starting with the Amstel – mark the conclusion of what will hopefully be a very fine spring for him. Our hope is that Matteo can ride a very strong finale and compete for the win.”

The American is going to be best suited to a race like Liège however there, the likes of Tadej Pogacar and Remco Evenepoel are expected at their best. Perhaps his best chance for a win comes in the more open Amstel Gold Race, which due to the lack of a final climb or as much overall difficulty, can provide more tactical racing.

And without the presence of Tadej Pogacar, that can be the case much more than usual. “The key factor in these kinds of races, when he takes part, is Tadej Pogacar. But this time we'll have Remco Evenepoel, hopefully Tom Pidcock can ride, and defending champion Mattias Skjelmose will also be present on Sunday, too."

Backing up the American will be Ben Tulett and Christophe Laporte as key men: "Chris handles the Amstel very well and positions himself fantastically. He can play a huge role for Matteo and Ben Tulett. Ben withdrew from the Tour of the Basque Country with knee problems but you shouldn't write him off just yet."

Filippo Fiorelli, Per Strand Hagenes, Menno Huising and Axel Zingle complete the Dutch team's lineup.