Visma's disastrous start to the season continues - After Wout van Aert, resurging Laporte crashes out of Vuelta a Andalucia

Team Visma | Lease a Bike are going through an incredibly hard period, having lost Simon Yates and Fem van Empel in a matter of weeks to retirement; and now having almost all of their leaders injured or having had to abandon competition due to crashes. Today at the Vuelta a Andalucia, Christophe Laporte's withdrawal has further cemented the Dutch team's poor start to the season.

What is perhaps most notable is this isn't only affecting current Visma riders, but former ones too. Tiesj Benoot, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Olav Kooij are the three most notable riders that have signed for rival teams this winter, and all three are out of action due to different injuries or illnesses. But within the Dutch team, not many of its main men remain healty as the riders go into March. Matthew Brennan and Matteo Jorgenson escape this 'curse'.

Sepp Kuss was given the opportunity to lead the team at the Tour of Oman; but he fell ill. So did Axel Zingle and Owain Doull; and Bart Lemmen crashed out of the race. At the UAE Tour the team had secondary leaders present as Jonas Vingegaard did not take to the start, after having crashed and contracted an illness in the opening period of the season and not having built the expected form ahead of the Emirati race.

In the classics block, Wout Van Aert will seemingly race his initially designed schedule, but his form will be an unknown after the Belgian suffered a fracture in his ankle during a cyclocross race in the first days of the year. For several weeks he struggled to walk, whilst he continues physio work up until very recently, at the very least.

The team could've at least rejoiced with the returning Christophe Laporte, victim of illnesses and injuries which have taken him out of the cobbled classics campaign for the last two seasons. The Frenchman won the opening stage of the Vuelta a Andalucia and his return to health and form looked like a positive sign ahead of the classics. The Frenchman crashed and abandoned the race this afternoon whilst being in contention for victory.

"He seems to have been able to get away relatively unscathed", team DS Marc Reef said in a press release. "Someone in front of him slipped and hit Christophe's front wheel. He had nowhere to go and fell. He immediately indicated that he couldn't continue, but now at the finish it seems to be not too bad."

“He was in a strong position, both in the general classification and the points classification. Unfortunately, that all went away in an instant. It’s a shame we couldn’t defend our chances.”