"Wout is one of the best riders in the world" - Visma retain full faith in Van Aert after rollercoaster Giro d'Italia start

It's been a bit of a rollercoaster start to the 2025 Giro d'Italia for Team Visma | Lease a Bike and Wout van Aert. After coming within a tyre's width of securing the Maglia Rosa with a stage win on the opening day, Van Aert has been well below the expected level on the next two stages.

Having come so close on stage 1, many expected Van Aert to finish the stage 2 time trial in the race lead. Despite being a renowned performer against the clock though, the 30-year-old Belgian could only manage the 34th best time. As a result, far from being in the Maglia Rosa, Van Aert finished the day outside the top 10. Then on stage 3, riding a parcour that on paper at least was perfectly suited for a Van Aert stage win, the Visma leader finished nearly 16 minutes down after being dropped far earlier than expected.

Despite this seemingly negative trend however, Team Visma | Lease a Bike retain their backing of Van Aert and on the Monday rest day allowing the teams and riders to travel from Albania to the Italian mainland, sprint star Olav Kooij has come out with a message of positivity towards his teammate.

"I think it's a really nice combo – Wout is one of the best riders in the world," Kooij says in conversation with Cycling News, about the sprint dynamic that is developing between himself and the 12-time Grand Tour stage winner. "You also saw on the first stage that when it's too hard for me, then he can still fight for the win. With the multiple goals we have, it's just exciting to be able to race for the win every day and make a nice plan to get the most out of it."

"I think the past already showed that the combination of Olav and Wout is working quite well, if you look at Britain or Almeria last year," added Team Visma | Lease a Bike DS Marc Reef. "It's most important that we bring Olav into the mix with Wout together in the sprints, and then if you have that, it will make a big difference."

"We have to be realistic with Wout, especially after his run-in towards the Giro that was not perfect," Reef continued. "We needed to think like this, as it was not perfect and there was a scenario possible that on day one, he would not be there, in the TT it would not be working, or even on stage 3 that it would not work."

"But we also know that this race is three weeks long and that there are many more opportunities coming when he gets the time to grow into the race, and that's not every day that he has to go to the limit," Reef insists.  "On day one, he had to fight and felt the opportunity, so he went for it, and you also see that as a consequence on day 2. Hopefully, with the rest day tomorrow, we have a more upward trajectory, and we will see much more from him."

With Van Aert's form somewhat inconsistent though, the expectations are raised on Kooij in the sprints where he is given leadership. "The feeling is OK, it's been some hard days that were not really for me personally in Albania, but it's been good here to get started and get the race feeling back after the injury," Kooij says of his own level. "I'm looking forward to hitting Italian ground and that first sprint opportunity."

"I think you never really know how you'll be. It was not ideal, but in the end, I think recovery went how we hoped, and we did as good a preparation as possible for the Giro," Kooij concludes. "It wasn't a perfect build-up, but I think it should be alright."