Visma-Lease a Bike have confirmed their eight-rider roster and goals for the Giro d’Italia, with Attila Valter reportedly given the last slot in the line-up.
The Dutch squad have established a trend of naming their Grand Tour roster at the start of the season to clarify their goals, hierarchy and altitude training plans
Jonas Vingegaard will again target the Tour de France, with key support from the Sepp Kuss, with the American set to be given more of a leadership role as he defends his 2023 Vuelta a España title.
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According to WielerFlits, Hungarian national champion Valter will join Wout van Aert, Cian Uijtdebroeks and Olav Kooij, as Visma-Lease a Bike target multiple stage victories and a solid overall classification from new signing Uijtdebroeks.
Also on the eight-rider roster are Jan Tratnik, Edoardo Affini, Robert Gesink and Wilco Kelderman, giving Visma-Lease a Bike a strong, experienced and talented team.
Van Aert has opted to ride the Giro d’Italia so he can prepare at altitude for the Paris Olympic Games, missing the Tour for the first time since joining his current side in 2019.
Cian Uijtdebroeks was eighth in the 2023 Vuelta a España before his bitter divorce from Bora-Hansgrohe and has been identified as a future Grand Tour leader by Visma-Lease a Bike.
Olav Kooij will target the sprint stages at the Giro d’Italia on his Grand Tour debut after taking 25 wins in his last two seasons.
Valter raced the Giro d’Italia in 2021, wearing the leader’s maglia rosa for three days on former team Groupama-FDJ. He also rode the Giro d’Italia in 2022 when the Corsa Rosa started in Hungary. Last year Valter was part of the Jumbo-Visma long list for the Tour de France but was not selected and raced the Vuelta a España.
According to WielerFlits, Valter replaces Norway’s Johannes Staune-Mittet in the Visma-Lease a Bike line-up, although the 2023 Giro Next Gen winner may be first reserve and could still attend the pre-race altitude camp in April.
This year’s Giro d’Italia starts in Turin and includes two key time trial stages before a final week in the mountains and a closing stage in central Rome.
Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates), Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Ben O’Connor (Decathlon-AG2R), Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal-Quick Step) will all ride the Corsa rosa, with Pogačar targeting a rare Giro-Tour double.
