"They are genuinely normal people" - Visma teammate praises Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert's leadership skills

Against super riders such as Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel, there's little that rivals can do in the classics. Team Visma | Lease a Bike showed tremendous depth at the Tour of Flanders, and that was without Christophe Laporte who is only now starting his season after prolonged illness. The Frenchman has nothing but praise for the Dutch team, who he says saw him reborn as a pro rider.

"That's where I became a professional again. It's a different way of working, where everything is more professional. The level of the riders is also higher, which pushes you as a rider to get the most out of yourself," Laporte said in former teammate Loic Chetout's Sans les Freins podcast. The transfer in 2022 saw, despite his crashes and illnesses, win Gent-Wevelgem, a stage at the Tour de France, European Championships, Dwars door Vlaanderen, Paris-Tours and others despite mostly having a domestique role in the stage-races.

"You have to make a lot more personal sacrifices. For example, we have a lot more altitude training camps now. I'm not saying it's a completely different sport now because that would be an exaggeration, but when you look at the race preparation, they are two different things."  

The Frenchman came from Cofidis - where the team also went on to sign Axel Zingle in search of a similar transformation - and the truth is that the preparation level between the two teams has a big difference. However not just when it comes to training and racing itself, but the mentaility within the teams as well.

"I didn't speak English well when I arrived, so I gradually learned it. The team has been very supportive, and by team, I mean the staff and the riders. I immediately liked the mentality. I said back then: in France, we have a certain mentality; abroad, they have a certain mentality, and I can combine the two nicely. It's really beneficial to be around real champions because only a few riders are among the best in the world. I learned a lot from that."

Laporte has been infected with cytomegalovirus, which saw him missing out on the classics season for a second year in a row. However, despite this bad luck, he comes off as being satisfied within the team and likely not having the weight put on his shoulders for a rushed comeback. Combine that with leaders who he is fond of, and it makes for an ideal mix.

"I think we have very modest leaders in our team. They are just normal people who are naturally put on a pedestal because they win so much. But they are genuinely normal people. I think that if someone who knows nothing about cycling joined our team, they wouldn't be able to guess who the leaders are and who aren't."

"They really helped me fit in. It made me think about when I was with Cofidis and foreigners joined the team. Back then, I wasn't very open. Now I know I could have been much nicer and more open".