Visma | Lease a Bike make an unexpected appearance in Oman, 9 years after their first participation
Cycling
The organization of traditional early-season 2.Pro stage race Tour of Oman and its prologue Muscat Classic (1.1) revealed the 18 teams that will take on the 2025 course. However one clearly stands out among the others - Team Visma | Lease a Bike.
Just like last year, a total of 9 WorldTeams will travel to Oman. However Cofidis, Intermarché - Wanty and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will be replaced by Groupama - FDJ, Movistar and most notably Visma | Lease a Bike. They'll be accompanied by five ProTeams and three top Asian CT teams. The 18th team at the start would be traditionally Oman's National Team.
Visma | Lease a Bike are in any case far from complete strangers with the Middle-Eastern stage race, however their last participation came in 2016, when the team was still known under the name Team LottoNL-Jumbo. Back in the Rabobank days, the Dutch formation even got to raise hands with the overall victory for Robert Gesink in 2011.
From the current lineup, the still-promising Matteo Jorgenson has very fond memories from Oman. In 2023, when he was still wearing Movistar Team colours, the young American rose to win the GC by a mere one second in a thrilling finale against Mauri Vansevenant.
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⭐ Here are the 18 teams that will take to the start of the #MuscatClassic and the #TourofOman ⭐
— Tour of Oman (@tourofoman) January 7, 2025
9️⃣ UCI WorldTeams
5️⃣ UCI ProTeams
3️⃣ UCI Continental Teams
🇴🇲 Oman National Team
🗓️ #MuscatClassic : Friday 7 February
🗓️ #TourofOman : February 8 - 12th pic.twitter.com/hvRKtrJAPp
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- i have MASSIVE respect for vollering as an athlete. how can you not? but i do agree about the limits of her tactical and interpersonal skills. if she had both to the same degree as someone like kasia niewiadoma, she would end her career someday as one of the greatest cyclists of all time — male, female, whatever…OCexile08-01-2025
- Completely agree.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- i’m pretty sure mathieu has never spent a moment of his adult life dreaming of winning the Tour. he’s known for a very long time that that’s not the kind of rider he is. I’m also pretty sure he’s known for a very long time that TDF stages count for a lot in the palmares of big puncheurs like him and wout. he hasn’t decided he doesn’t care about racking up stage wins at the tour because they wouldn’t matter in terms of his legacy. he KNOWS they would. so it’s more interesting than that. he doesn’t care about stages IN SPITE of knowing how much they “matter.” he doesn’t care because he just DOESN’T CARE about anyone else’s standards or judgments. he decides what he’s interested in, what captures his imagination, and he just does THAT (within the WIDE parameters of free choice he’s allowed at Alpecin, which are certainly wider and freer than anyone else in the peloton).OCexile08-01-2025
- Isn't the riders comming from indoor e-sport cycling crashing a lot?Jkolner12308-01-2025
- Right... Unless the two people above consider 2 Paris Roubaix and 3 Ronde meaningless... You don't win that many editions by being lucky.alsene08-01-2025
- Call it how you want, in order to win which matters to him, even if it’s for the team as lead-out, he has to and tries to be in top shape 10 out of 12 months, whether that’s a bunch of peaks, a couple of prolonged peaks or just that his general level is so good he can win anytime without peaking is a new discussion.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- I think he’s right and mental attitude is one of the biggest factors at elite level, especially over 3 weeks.Jumpyjohn08-01-2025
- Enforcing cease and desist isn't working. The site is still live (8 Jan 13:55 CET)leodis08-01-2025
- You’re both right but also both (me too) biased by this endless indoctrination through the expectations of others (no cyclist is worth mentioning without a tdf legacy) and sorry Fred but the part about him having to win the whole thing is misguided, Cavendish is venerated by most and he might not have even reached 50th in the how many editions he did (about double Merckxs). As rightly said Mathieu rides for HIMSELF (aside obligations) take it or leave it, I really don’t think he (and most others, even Cav or Pog) lie around in bed at night worrying or strategising about how to cement a place in history. We are lucky to witness a period where some of the best cyclists are (aside from money) motivated in the right way, you can often see in the authentic way they celebrate crossing the line after a huge effort, MVDPs are some of the best, 100% dedication, my favourite was the communion with his grandfather when he won that stage, it was visibly (worth seeing again if available) so powerful, I even think the only reason he tried the TdF at all (he’d never really shown any interest personally and I’m pretty sure it was a business “obligation” was in hommage to his grandfather who meant so much to him. Once done I think he realised he doesn’t enjoy it (should he (any of us actually) force himself to do a job he isn’t enjoying?) and saw no more reason to continue but being open he accepted to try something new, lead-out man and did it admirably. His riding career has now probably “peaked” and he’ll want to focus on those things personally still important before it’s too late and leads to regrets. I am sure he’ll regret his luck/carelessness at Olympics more than anything TdF related and among future goals, that will be his number 1 rectification target and sorry for those TdF obsessors (who often watch nothing else all year) but for many the Olympics are more important than eg the Tour, no matter what the majority of cycling thinks, and they have that right.Mistermaumau08-01-2025
- To MVDP, even if he wins 10 stages of the TDF, if he can't be overall champion (GC), he still loses.. so he thinks he has nothing to gain. He'd rather win a hundred minor races than frustrate himself trying to win the grandest race of them all. The mindset of a winner, you say? Maybe, but I don't think so. Nevertheless, he's a great cyclist. Monuments and classics, one-day races are his thing. He can ride a one-day 300 km race and win it, but a 3,500 km race spread over 21 days? Forget it.. he can win a stage or two, wear the yellow jersey for a day or two, (no mean feat, by the way) and finish in 50th place just the same, not even good enough for a podium, and he doesn't like it. To him, it's a waste of time.FredMan08-01-2025