Van Aert, Brennan, Kuss... - Visma reveal their highly ambitious lineup to tackle the 2026 Vuelta a España
Cycling
The 2026 Vuelta a España is gaining shape and this Tuesday morning, Team Visma | Lease a Bike have announced a very strong and complete lineup for the final Grand Tour of the season including Wout Van Aert, Matthew Brennan and Sepp Kuss.
The team, at the beginning of the year, had plans for many of its young and new riders to take part in La Vuelta. The likes of Filippo Fiorelli and Menno Huising were amongst them, but as the year went by, the plans slowly changed and morphed into the current outlook of the Dutch team for the final Grand Tour of the season - one that is quite strong.
Matthew Brennan will be leading the team's sprinting ambitions, fresh off two stage wins at the Vuelta a Burgos. The young sprinter will be making his three-week race debut but finds in the Vuelta a very fitting race.
And he should be the race's main sprinter as well, as backing him up will be the leadout of his dreams. Wout Van Aert returns to the race after his 2024 participation, where he won three stages but then abandoned following a hard crash. The Belgian should be Brennan's leadout whilst also pursuing stage wins on some hilly days and tagging in for domestique duties for the team's climbers.
Christophe Laporte joins the duo in an unexpected lineup change, the Frenchman was ruled out of the Tour de France due to injury but looked in great form recently at the Tour of Denmark where he and Van Aert controlled the race.
Wout Van Aert and Matthew Brennan will team up at La Vuelta's sprints
A strong climber block
The team's climbing block is just as strong and allows the team to dream big. Steven Kruijswijk comes in for the final Grand Tour of his career and will be the domestique that should spend the most time at the head of the peloton out of all the men in the team. Bruno Armirail is also a surprise addition to the lineup, coming in straight from the Tour de France.
The team features Sepp Kuss in its lineup. The American was not part of the early plans for La Vuelta, but like in 2023, he will race all three Grand Tours in one year. At the Giro d'Italia he won the mountain stage to Pian de Pezzè and at the Tour only two crashes came in the way of him winning the queen stage to Alpe d'Huez. The American, winner of the 2023 edition, finished the Tour with tremendous form and looks to bring it to Spain where he could be a GC candidate, stage hunter or domestique altogether.
The team is likely to give freedom to two of its riders that have the most potential. Ben Tulett had a stellar performance last year in support of Jonas Vingegaard at the Vuelta and this year he is likely to test himself in this terrain - having taken a step up with podiums at La Flèche Wallonne and Clásica San Sebastián this year.
Jorgen Nordhagen completes the lineup in what is his Grand Tour debut as well. The Norwegian has been for years touted as a future Grand Tour contender and this year he has had his breakthrough, with a second place at O Gran Camiño and fourth at the Tour de Romandie putting him in the spotlight back in April.
Read also
Team Visma | Lease a Bike for 2026 Vuelta a España
| Riders |
| Bruno Armirail |
| Christophe Laporte |
| Matthew Brennan |
| Wout Van Aert |
| Steven Kruijswijk |
| Sepp Kuss |
| Jorgen Nordhagen |
| Ben Tulett |
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- for a medical chief to throw things like is just bad. There are already radios which were banned for spectacle. allow radios. Gps trackers are not a complete solutionabstractengineer07-11-2026
- Yeah man...PogiSloFans07-11-2026
- any rider less than 25 whether they are really ready for the position of leadership of GT is probably not the case. I think Pogi himself suffered when he was defeated by Jonas in the TDF twice. But that would be the team's job to ensure support so that they can bounce back. It requires a team and time to get back up and win after getting knocked down.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I'm very glad he got the big late Quickstep Vuelta win and I hope he has a few left for Euskaltel-Euskadi.flyer07-11-2026
- My memories of Ivan Basso aren't good but I liked his sister Elisa ok.flyer07-11-2026
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