Visma debut young supertalents Behrens and Nordhagen at Tour of Oman; Olav Kooij aims for sprint wins
Cycling
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
Read also
🇴🇲 #TourOfOman
— Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) February 5, 2025
Some black and yellow ‘paparazzi’ in the mountains of Oman, right Niklas? 👀🐝 Our guys are getting ready for the next road races! pic.twitter.com/IF3uc19WXG
Just in
NEW: WorldTour Manager Cyclinguptodate.com (FREE)
Subscribe to our Daily Newsletter today!
Popular news
Latest comments
- Not all doping cases are equal. I've known Rob Stannard since he was a kid. His suspension was for a bio-passport irregularity. Rob presented both a plausible explanation and medical evidence that WADA was unable to discredit. However they refused to accept it and in the CAS case Rob was told unless he was able to replicate the irregularities perfectly then his evidence wouldn't be accepted. However this was 4 years later and your body's biomarkers are different at 23 than at 19, so it was literally physically impossible to do what was required and so he was sanctioned in spite of wada being unable to demonstrate he had acted illegal. All this is to say that not all doping positives are evidence of cheatingPCR036818-03-2025
- Not all doping cases are equal. I've known Rob Stannard since he was a kid. His suspension was for a bio-passport irregularity. Rob presented both a plausible explanation and medical evidence that WADA was unable to discredit. However they refused to accept it and in the CAS case Rob was told unless he was able to replicate the irregularities perfectly then his evidence wouldn't be accepted. However this was 4 years later and your body's biomarkers are different at 23 than at 19, so it was literally physically impossible to do what was required and so he was sanctioned in spite of radars being unable to demonstrate he had acted illegal. All this is to say that not all doping positives are evidence of cheatingPCR036818-03-2025
- Yes, seriously, Z2. First of all, the race isn't 8 hours, it's a lot shorter. 2nd, if the team is protecting you/you're sitting in the bunch at 45km/h, these guys are definitely in Z2vappaxbipmv18-03-2025
- I had a deviated septum. Legacy of falling out of a tree on to my face. The op which was basically a hammer and chisel job, took a long time to get over. Even now years laterI'm susceptible to infections on one side of my sinuses. During high pollen count periods it's worse. It always held me back at times when endurence cycling. It's an extreme cure and I hope it works out for Jai.Cyclingsbestfan18-03-2025
- What about Astana? Tejada was pretty impressive in PN and Fortunato too, he had a solid ride on the only real mountain stage of 2025 TA. And there's also Ulissi.heinz18-03-2025
- Ayuso seems to be all about himself.. 🤷
leedorney18-03-2025 - Hey CUTD, nothing against your favourite insider but it’s a bit disrespectful to quite a few ladies to highlight Urska both in bold and in the title!Jumpyjohn18-03-2025
- Ayuso no works for the others: usually he runs hidden in the back of the pack to avoid working. Maybe he's not a good teammate, maybe he reaps what he sows. Personally, he is one of the few riders that I find unpleasant.
maria2024202418-03-2025 - Thought I’d share a nice thread discovered on the subject of Mrs Trump’s nationality : « A country that is able to produce the humility and fearlessness of Matej Mohorič, the playfulness and rule bending of Tadej Pogačar and the ability to stand against adversity as Primož Roglič, has nothing to gain from the values of the first lady. And that is only cycling. Mute Report Sirtracy OneMillionMonkeys 8 Jan Tratnik looks as fit as me and has won a stage at the Giro d'Italia. If that's not inspirational, I don't know what is. Mute Report GrouchoBlondini77 OneMillionMonkeys 7 Fully agree. And you can add Jan Tratnik to the list of Slovenian cycling stars. What are they putting in the water there? Mute Report OneMillionMonkeys Sirtracy 7 How could I forget Tratnik. Thanks » By the way, Sam Bennett seems awfully quiet at the moment, any news on him anyone?Mistermaumau18-03-2025
- Based on desires and current rate of improvement he is likely to reach MJ level before the likes of (for starters) TP, JV & RE and even PR retire. It was not an exclusive list and I don’t claim to or want to know every discussable rider’s age unless it becomes necessary :-)Mistermaumau18-03-2025