Van Aert, Brennan, Kuss... - Visma reveal their highly ambitious lineup to tackle the 2026 Vuelta a España
CyclingTuesday, 18 August 2026 at 11:05
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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- Dolce et decorum est pro patria mori
Rafionain-Glas18-08-2026 - Anything to get away from Brailsford. Geraint Thomas is a good guy but hardly proven as someone who can guide a team to success off the bike.Renz18-08-2026
- The backlash Jonas faces when retiring for the season, after the TdF, is abhorrent to me - for many reasons. Aside from the fact it is entirely his/his team's prerogative, the man has had 94 race days since last year's Tour, less than the majority of the peloton (inc. Tadej), and has raced every consecutive GT since the 25' TdF, winning 2 of them, and coming 2nd in another. Cut the guy a damn break.anonymouscyclist18-08-2026
- You consider that an obligation and an honour it seems, maybe wish for war so you can prove (even just to yourself) you can also serve YOUR country better?Mistermaumau18-08-2026
- Great, goid for cycling. AND, that’s the story of cycling, it can also happen to Tadej and in the end, it’s always the next generation.Mistermaumau18-08-2026
- That’s PROBABLY because employer needs him more than the other way round and gets more from him than the other way around. I guess you would tell him to leave and replace him with Roglo or Froome for half price? Or buy up Ayuso or Onley for a similar budget?Mistermaumau18-08-2026
- In this argument!Mistermaumau18-08-2026
- There is another point which is that WC courses are really rarely designed for his strengths. And if they would propose one, all hell would break loose amongst other kinds of riders.Mistermaumau18-08-2026
- HopefullyMistermaumau18-08-2026
- I don't think anyone should feel pressured to do something for their country, and Jonas has had a busy year. But I was just thinking that this all seemed to begin with Mads encouraging Jonas to take the step into the Worlds at Montreal, so he must have thought it was a reasonable idea. I think last year Jonas did mention that the Montreal course would suit him, maybe that got Mads' hopes up.Hills3318-08-2026
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