Visma debut young supertalents Behrens and Nordhagen at Tour of Oman; Olav Kooij aims for sprint wins

Team Visma | Lease a Bike is a team of many leaders but also many young talents. At the Tour of Oman, where the racing is usually calmer, they are providing some of their young riders such as Niklas Behrens and Jorgen Nordhagen with some experience and chances to fight for their own results without the big leaders present.

Team DS Maarten Wynants explained the reasoning behind the team's selection: “It is a conscious choice of the team to give our young talents opportunities in the somewhat smaller races from now on. Then those guys can learn what it is like to ride finals, without being in service of a leader. It is difficult to predict the Tour of Oman, but of course we hope that Jørgen and Cian will take their chances.”

Oman is being used as a big of a testing ground for some of the team's projects. One is the new partnership between Olav Kooij and his new leadout man Dan McLay who has been signed this winter for a very particular role that he will be filling for the first time. Niklas Behrens, the under-23 World Champion, should also assist in the sprints whilst potentially having an opportunity in one of the hilly days.

In the mountainous days, we will see Cian Uijtdebroeks fighting for the overall classification, and Jorgen Nordhagen - often compared to Jonas Vingegaard, much due to their proximity - will be doing the same. Both youngsters will be supported by the experienced Steven Kruijswijk who has decades on knowledge fighting for race wins which he will be sharing with his young teammates. The lineup is completed by under-23 team rider Pietro Mattio.

Team Visma | Lease a Bike for Tour of Oman:

Olav Kooij
Jorgen Nordhagen
Cian Uijtdebroeks
Steven Kruijswijk
Dan McLay
Nicklas Behrens
Pietro Mattio