OFFICIAL: Jonas Vingegaard headlines stacked Team Visma | Lease a Bike squad for Giro d’Italia

Team Visma | Lease a Bike have officially confirmed their lineup for the 2026 Giro d’Italia, with Jonas Vingegaard arriving at the race backed by one of the strongest squads in the peloton.

At a time when several of the Dane’s expected Maglia Rosa rivals have already disappeared from the start list, Visma’s selection only reinforces the sense that the two-time Tour de France winner will begin the race as the overwhelming favourite for the pink jersey.

The headline support names are immediately eye-catching. Sepp Kuss and Wilco Kelderman bring extensive Grand Tour experience and climbing depth, giving Visma a proven mountain structure around their leader. Kuss returns to a full support role after his own Grand Tour success in recent seasons, while Kelderman adds another experienced presence capable of surviving deep into major mountain stages.

Alongside them, Victor Campenaerts offers a very different weapon. The Belgian’s engine and breakaway strength could become particularly important on transitional stages and in the increasingly tactical finales expected at this year’s Giro.

There is also significant interest around the inclusion of Davide Piganzoli, one of Italy’s most promising young stage race talents. The 2026 Giro offers Piganzoli the opportunity to race his home Grand Tour alongside the strongest general classification rider in the field, while also gaining experience inside a full Grand Tour control structure.

Elsewhere, Bart Lemmen, Timo Kielich and Tim Rex round out a squad built to function across all terrain, from the opening stages in Bulgaria through to the high mountains of the final week.

The lineup announcement also lands in the context of an increasingly weakened Giro field. Joao Almeida, widely viewed as one of Vingegaard’s biggest expected challengers, has already withdrawn through illness. Mikel Landa was ruled out following his crash at Itzulia Basque Country, while former Maglia Rosa winner Richard Carapaz has now also confirmed he will miss the race after a delayed recovery from surgery.

Against that backdrop, Visma’s approach to the race appears increasingly straightforward. This is not an experimental Giro lineup or a reduced Grand Tour support group built around survival. It is a squad assembled to control the race.

For Vingegaard himself, the Giro represents an opportunity to move one step closer to cycling history. Already a two-time Tour de France winner and Vuelta a Espana champion, the Dane is now targeting the only Grand Tour missing from his palmarès. Victory in Rome would make him just the eighth rider to win all three Grand Tours.

With a stacked support squad around him and several key rivals already gone before the race has even begun, the pressure and expectation surrounding Visma’s Giro campaign have only grown stronger.