“You will miss Wout van Aert more than Primoz Roglic in the Tour" - Experts analyse new look Team Visma | Lease a Bike's 2024 prospects
Cycling
In 2024, Team Visma | Lease a Bike starts a new era. A revamped look to their kit, a new sponsor on their name and a refreshed lineup. How close can they get to replicating their immensely successful 2023 however?
As part of Eurosport's Kop over Kop podcast, Jeroen Vanbelleghem, Jan Hermsen, Bobbie Traksel and Sander Valentijn discuss this question. As with all teams in the peloton, the Tour de France will be a key point in the campaign, especially for Team Visma | Lease a Bike as Jonas Vingegaard looks to make it a hat-trick of Maillot Jaune victories.
“I don't think it will be a problem in the Tour,” says Vanbelleghem about the notable departure of Primoz Roglic. “Last year Vingegaard was also the only leader, and it worked out then too. Maybe it will be a bigger challenge to win all three Grand Tours.”
Not the Slovenian but rather Wout van Aert will be the bigger miss next summer it is believed as the Belgian undertakes a different calendar this year, targeting the Giro d'Italia. “You will miss Van Aert more than Roglic in the Tour. What Van Aert has shown in the Tour over the last two years is more than phenomenal. He is not replaceable,” analyses Traksel.
Van Aert will be the team's leading light in the monuments though. “If they have a season like last year again, then it will of course still be a success. I do think that at least the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix are very high on Team Visma | Lease a Bike's list of priorities," says Vanbelleghem.
“There is a very strong foundation within the team. With Van Aert as the absolute leader. The team is very balanced,” Traksel adds.
“I think they have a clear purpose with the monuments," sees Hermsen. "Flanders and Roubaix are very important, but if they win Liège or Milano-Sanremo they will also be happy. After a monumental year, I think the team needs to win again.”
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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In preparation of his road season, @WoutvanAert participated in 9️⃣ cyclocross races. He won 3️⃣ of them. Look back on his cyclocross campaign one more time in our gallery.
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