Vingegaard's Giro win to Van Aert's Roubaix euphoria - Visma | Lease a Bike's top 5 riders of 2026
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike concludes the season as third-best team in the world based on the very objective statistic provided by the UCI Team ranking. It was in any case a successful year where many milestones were achieved by Visma's leading figures. Meanwhile, the team's young talents have slowly stepped into the spotlight, bringing hope that Visma should remain a vocal player in the cycling world in years to come.
After three years as the world's team number two, Visma | Lease a Bike backed off from the position of UAE Team Emirates - XRG's closest pursuer. The ambitious Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe have taken their spot, but that doesn't mean that the Dutch formation had a terrible year.
In fact, Visma continues to follow an upward trajectory since 2024 when they earned 20452.98 UCI points. One year later, it was 22876.74 UCI points. And in 2026, 23129.25 UCI points were racked up by Visma's best 20 scorers.
To continue to improve even through Simon Yates' unexpected retirement at the start of the year highlights the general quality of Visma's season, regardless of the drop in rankings. Read on to learn more about who were Visma | Lease a Bike's top performers of 2026.
Jonas Vingegaard (4160.8 UCI points)
Starting off with Visma's number one this season, we take off with a rider who might be slightly bitter about how his season played out. Having finished 6th in the individual UCI ranking is not a disaster for Jonas Vingegaard who focuses less on efficiently scoring points, and more on winning Grand Tours.
For the 2026 season the Dane prepared a daring plan; to try and complete a Giro-Tour double - a feat achieved by only eight cyclists in history. Most recently by Tadej Pogacar in 2024 who has done so 26 long years after Marco Pantani.
Vingegaard got off to a good start of the season as he won both Paris-Nice and Volta a Catalunya along with four stages. Heading to Giro d'Italia, there was no other favourite than the 29-year-old rider who did not disappoint.
Vingegaard's single worse day was a stage 10 individual time trial where a 13th position meant he lost some time. But otherwise, Vingegaard found no rival in the mountains, won five stages, and finished the race five minutes ahead of his closest pursuers having claimed King of the Mountains jersey along the way. With this triumph, Vingegaard joined the elite club of riders who have won all three Grand Tours.
Jonas Vingegaard was the main threat to Tadej Pogacar ahead of the 2026 Tour de France
But that was merely the easiest part of his ambitious plan. That is because at the Tour de France, he had to deal with Tadej Pogacar - a clash which he's been able to avoid thus far this season.
Heading to the start, Vingegaard was the number two favourite to win the 2026 Grande Boucle, and the only serious threat to Pogacar's attempt at a record-equaling fifth overall victory.
However the early stages quickly exploited what was feared - that Vingegaard's level was closer to that of podium contenders Remco Evenepoel, Paul Seixas and Isaac del Toro, than to Pogacar. Still, Vingegaard defended a second spot with a 30-second advantage over Evenepoel until stage 15 when a crash caused by lack of attention amidst a long mountain test forced the Dane to withdraw from the race.
The fractured collarbone would still allow Vingegaard to resume racing by September, but the Dane opted to prioritize recovery and preparation for next season, giving up on a potentially lucrative sum of UCI points.
Wout Van Aert (3758.6 UCI points)
In 2026, Visma had two cards up in the individual UCI ranking. Right behind Vingegaard in 7th position, we'd find Wout Van Aert who finished some 400 UCI points behind his general classification captain.
The run-in to Van Aert's season was not ideal. The Belgian star injured his ankle in winter during cyclocross duel with time-long rival Mathieu van der Poel. This derailed the Visma rider's preparation but by the time spring Monuments arrived, he was near his best level again.
At Milano-Sanremo and Tour of Flanders, Van Aert claimed the 'best of the rest' award behind phenomenal Tadej Pogacar (and Tom Pidcock at the Italian race). Uphill, he unsurprisingly couldn't match Pogacar, but his level was good enough to place him among three biggest favourites for Paris-Roubaix - a race he had dreamt of winning his entire career.
At the 'Hell of the North', Van Aert finally won the puncture lottery as he himself was spared while three-time champion Van der Poel had to deal with double-mechanical on Trouée d'Arenberg and was forced to chase while Van Aert worked well with Pogacar to expand their lead. And in the final sprint, the Belgian all-rounder after all prevailed against the Slovenian climber.
It was a moving moment. Van Aert has long been regarded as the second-best cobbles rider of our generation, yet a Monument victory at either Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix has always slipped through his fingers. In his 9 most recent participations, he never finished worse than 7th.
The rest of Van Aert's season was a bit of a rollercoaster. In June, he had to swallow the bitter pill of withdrawing from Tour de France nomination after the Belgian struggled to keep up in preparation race.
But he made up for the disappointment later in the summer as he dominated the Tour of Denmark with three stages & GC victory, before heading off to the Vuelta a Espana - his back-up Grand Tour.
Van Aert was phenomenal throughout the entire race. He won two stages, helped teammate Matthew Brennan enjoy further five, claimed the points jersey and came extremely close to winning also the King of the Mountains classification through his breakaway endeavors.
To cap off the season, Van Aert also expressed an ambition to compete for the world title on gravel, but eventually abandoned the idea after what has been an already long season.
Matteo Jorgenson (2084.8 UCI points)
But Visma was not only about Vingegaard and Van Aert in 2026. As we scroll slightly further down the rankings, we find several names who have made a lasting impact on this season, starting with Matteo Jorgenson.
Interestingly enough, the 27-year-old American never won a race besides a team time trial in 2026. Rather than headline results, Jorgenson relied on consistent performances throughout the season to finish as 26th best rider in the world. Considering that he's rarely been the leader of his team, that's not bad.
Matteo Jorgenson was one of the key riders at the 2026 Montreal World Championships
Unlike past seasons, Jorgenson opted out of Classics where he enjoyed moderate success in previous years - including a victory at Dwars door Vlaanderen - to focus more on climbing races.
Early in the season, we saw the American finish 2nd at Faun Drome Classic, 8th at Strade Bianche, and later again second at Tirreno-Adriatico. Behind teammate Jonas Vingegaard.
A 4th place at Tour Auvergne-Rhone-Alpes was a solid promise towards Tour de France, but Jorgenson did not find his usual legs over the three weeks in France and used the race as a preparation towards the final part of the season. Which seems to have paid off.
Jorgenson's most outstanding performance came at the World Championships where, alongside United States colleagues Quinn Simmons and Brandon McNulty, they've taken apart the pack to deliver one of the most surprising world champions in recent years. Jorgenson himself finished 8th.
Matthew Brennan (2020 UCI points)
So far, we have talked mainly about established WorldTour riders but Visma | Lease a Bike have a strong group of young riders blitzing through the ranks towards the top echelons of cycling. And Matthew Brennan at 21 years of age might already be up there.
The British sprinter won 12 races in 2026. The number, albeit impressive, does not particularly stand out with for example one year older Paul Magnier sitting at 15 triumphs. But it is important to add that Brennan had not enjoyed a smooth season - the Classics season for example was a write-off except a one good day which resulted in a Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne victory.
However the highlight of Brennan's season came at Vuelta a Espana. Visma obliterated the already weak sprinter field with a star leadout of Wout Van Aert and Christophe Laporte working for Brennan. The young Brit could not afford to lose with such luxury support and ended up winning five stages at his debut Grand Tour.
Christophe Laporte (1816 UCI points)
Just like with Jorgenson, there's not really one particular result that would quantify Christophe Laporte's season. Rather, the 2026 campaign was more about re-gaining rhythm because ever since he became European champion in 2023, the Frenchman was dealing with recurring health setbacks. This year, he was a training injury which removed him from Tour de France nomination, but Laporte still enjoyed a much more consistent year.
Laporte's main portion of UCI points comes from spring campaign as the 33-year-old finished 4th at Omloop Nieuwsblad, 7th at E3 Saxo Classic, 3rd at In Flanders Fields, 7th at Dwars door Vlaanderen, 9th at Tour of Flanders, and concluded his campiagn with another top-5 result at Paris-Roubaix.
Christophe Laporte at Roubaix velodrome
Team Visma | Lease a Bike points distribution in 2026:
| Rider | UCI points |
| VINGEGAARD Jonas | 4160.8 |
| VAN AERT Wout | 3758.6 |
| JORGENSON Matteo | 2084.8 |
| BRENNAN Matthew | 2020 |
| LAPORTE Christophe | 1816 |
| PIGANZOLI Davide | 1619.8 |
| KUSS Sepp | 1370.3 |
| TULETT Ben | 1283.6 |
| BARRÉ Louis | 925 |
| HAGENES Per Strand | 876.8 |
| NORDHAGEN Jørgen | 743.6 |
| LEMMEN Bart | 527 |
| FIORELLI Filippo | 389 |
| ARMIRAIL Bruno | 374.1 |
| KELDERMAN Wilco | 279.6 |
| GRAAT Tijmen | 217 |
| ZINGLE Axel | 209.6 |
| CAMPENAERTS Victor | 190.8 |
| SCHIFFER Anton | 183 |
| VAN BELLE Loe | 100 |
| HUISING Menno | 63 |
| KIELICH Timo | 61 |
| AFFINI Edoardo | 38.4 |
| KRUIJSWIJK Steven | 33 |
| MATTIO Pietro | 33 |
| JAKOBSEN Fabio | 30 |
| REX Tim | 26 |
| DOULL Owain | 11 |
| BEHRENS Niklas | 3 |
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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- Or that he's been advised to recover to a certain level first before thinking about the TourHills3331-10-2026
- He hasn't even checked it! That says a lot about his confidence...Lukicinho31-10-2026
- Only beat Pogi because he’d been looking after IdT all stage. Without that Pogi would have won the stage and put another 2 mins into Remco, same on Stage 20!Lozza31-10-2026
- You wrote “withdrawing from Tour de France nomination after the Belgian struggled to keep up in preparation race.” He actually won a stage at the “Dauphine”, then DNF’d because of a bad infection in his elbow requiring surgery. That’s what kept him out of TdF.Lozza31-10-2026
- Remcos got a real chance here, he was close last year cept came good too late, dont forget he beat Del Toto & Pog
leedorney31-10-2026 - Pogi too!Lozza31-10-2026
- Go Pogi! ❤️Lozza31-10-2026
- If the Giro has too many mountains, then it is better for him to do the TDF. He can explain away losing to Pogi but it be difficult to explain a loss to some other climberabstractengineer31-10-2026
- Del Toro inconsistent compared to Pogi maybe (who isn’t!?) but 3rd on TdF podium is hardly struggling! (He had some sickness there too). I hope he goes back to the Giro next season for his own GC chance (unfinished business) then maybe the Vuelta to help Pogi.Lozza31-10-2026
- Del toro podium GC TDF as helper not captain says it all how superior everyone are to UAE they made fun of everyone before the got sick..literally. Mcnulty winning 30km solo WC!! when pogacar is not there another example its just ridiclous how many levels above the rest they are. Like pogacar doms dominate in his absence over other teams best captains...like what are everyone else suppose to do then genuinly, insane. Just the truth. Next year wont slow down as they were incredible unlucky throught the year with injuries on everyone and big guys(wellen, narvaez,vine, almeida, del toro, Pogi, Soler, non stop.) and still they did this.. Good thing is that rbh and lidl have alot of money and even tho noone can stop UAE cause they are literally unbeatable and frankly the best structured team ive ever seen in my life watching cycling.. (when they develeop riders like pog into best rider ever and del toro overall in world today top 3 already..) but i do think rbh and lidl will make life harder for them in coming years atleast even if they cant stop em. So good times.miguel31-10-2026
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