Jumbo-Visma and Laporte miss Opening Weekend double by 50 metres

KUURNE BELGIUM FEBRUARY 27 Christophe Laporte of France and Team Jumbo Visma competes during the 74th Kuurne Bruxelles Kuurne 2022 a 1951km race from Kuurne to Kuurne KuurneBxlKuurne on February 27 2022 in Kuurne Belgium Photo by Eric Lalmand PoolGetty Images
Christophe Laporte (Jumbo-Visma) drives the near-miss breakaway at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (Image credit: Eric Lalmand PoolGetty Images)

While Taco van der Hoorn may have prepared for his day in the break — and agonisingly late catch — at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne for months beforehand, for fellow breakmate, eighth-place finisher Christophe Laporte, the result, on his debut for Jumbo-Visma came with rather less preparation.

The Frenchman made the switch to the Dutch squad for 2022 in part to help Classics leader Wout van Aert through the spring. However, a COVID-19 infection in January saw his season debut delayed, meaning that, while Van Aert raced to victory at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Laporte missed him by a day — but still came close to securing an Opening Weekend double.

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Senior news writer

Dani Ostanek is Senior News Writer at Cyclingnews, having joined in 2017 as a freelance contributor and later being hired full-time. Prior to joining the team, they had written for numerous major publications in the cycling world, including CyclingWeekly, Rouleur, and CyclingTips.

 

Dani has reported from the world's top races, including the Tour de France and the spring Classics, and has interviewed many of the sport's biggest stars, including Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel, Demi Vollering, and Anna van der Breggen.

 

As well as original reporting, news and feature writing, and production work, Dani also oversees The Leadout newsletter and How to Watch guides throughout the season. Their favourite races are Strade Bianche and the Volta a Portugal.