Visma bet on sprinters Laporte and Kooij for Milano-Sanremo: "If Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar accelerate, it will be quite a challenge to follow"
Cycling
Team Visma | Lease a Bike are tackling Milano-Sanremo head on with a lineup that is focused on conservative racing and the possible sprints. Christophe Laporte and Olav Kooij will both be cards to play in a finale if things pan out the way the Dutch team hopes for.
"I think Milano-Sanremo is a great race. We are not the favourites to win, but we can play an important role in the final," European Champion Laporte said in a press release. "On the Poggio, I will try to stay in front as long as possible and fight for the win. If there is a big group, we have a great sprinter in Olav Kooij. It would be great if we could finish on the podium."
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Wout van Aert skips the race as he focuses exclusively in the cobbled classics for the time being; and the team's other two fast men get the chance to leader the 'sprinters' monument'. However, the race is now often won with attacks on the Poggio di Sanremo, or late attacks.
"I am really looking forward to riding my first monument. I've had a good start to the season, so we'll see what the race brings," Kooij added. "I don't think we have the top favourite in our team, although Christophe has started the season very well. As a team, we need to be in a good position and follow the strong men. On the Poggio, it's up to Christophe to go up with the better guys."
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"This time, the underdog role suits us. Christophe and Olav are in top form, but if Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar accelerate, it will be quite a challenge to follow them", team DS Marteen Wynants explained. "Fortunately, the favourite doesn't always win. It could go our way if we are lucky."
Team Visma | Lease a Bike for Milano-Sanremo:
Olav Kooij, Christophe Laporte, Johannes Staune-Mittet, Tosh van der Sande, Mick van Dijke, Tim van Dijke and Julien Vermote.
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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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- Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
- what did Jonas gift and to whom? just curious, haven’t heard about this.mij13-11-2026
- You don't gift grand tours as it has come to light that Jonas has come to regret doing such.
Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
- Dirty ex doper
Front24213-11-2026 - As far as points go they need to take a page or ten out of the Astana playbook!Lozza13-11-2026
- Ah, seems he’s been busy elsewhere! 😆Lozza13-11-2026
- Where is he when you need him!? Wake up man! You’re missing an opportunity!Lozza13-11-2026
- A very true statement made by Johan Bruyneel: "We don’t know for sure about Jonas, because he dropped out of the Tour de France, but he would never have come close to Pogacar. Maybe he would have finished second. He won the Giro in dominant fashion and the Vuelta the year before, but Visma wants to win the Tour." That's exactly what I've been saying the last six months. If Pogi races with Jonas, the most he can be is second... UNLESS... Pogi crashes out or makes a BIG mistake, which is not likely to happen. Either Bruyneel thinks the way I do or he reads my posts. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
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🇮🇹 #MilanoSanremo La Primavera 🌸 This is our team for Milano-Sanremo. 👇
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