Sports director with latest news about Christophe Laporte's current state of health: "He’s not ready to ride his bike yet"
Cycling
Christophe Laporte is not having the best time of his career at the moment. The Frenchman was hoping to be tearing up the peloton in Flanders at this time of the year, but instead he's sitting home, waiting for an illness to allow him to train again. Visma | Lease a Bike sports director Arthur van Dongen reveals the current state of the European champion in an interview with Cyclingnews.
"He’s still at home in France. He has no fever anymore, but he’s also not ready to ride his bike yet, so that means there’s a question mark for the next races," Van Dongen said. "We hope maybe that he can do a race before the Tour of Flanders, but that’s still a question mark. We’ll go day by day. We’ll know more tomorrow."
Laporte's illness was quite obvious when he was forced to abandon Milano-Sanremo. "Already in the morning, he had some problems with eating and then during the race he came to us and said he didn’t feel good," Van Dongen said. "And so when we saw he was dropped before the Cipressa, that was no surprise for us. In the evening, he had fever and diarrhea and, well, you know enough."
"He was in super shape before Milano-Sanremo, but it’s not good at all," Van Dongen said. "Let’s see how it develops, but before the Tour of Flanders, he needs one week of training again. The week after that is Paris-Roubaix, so maybe that’s a nice goal for himself. But let’s see step by step."
Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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