Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson will lead Visma-Lease a Bike's two-pronged GC approach at the eight-day Critérium du Dauphiné that starts on Sunday in Saint-Pourçain-sur-Sioule.
The pair have stated that while the opening stages present challenges, they will look to the final three stages to make their mark on the overall classification. All three include uphill finishes at Le Collet d'Allevard on stage 6, Samoëns 1600 on stage 7, and Plateau des Glières on the finale stage 8.
Jorgenson also noted the difficulty of the mid-race time trial on stage 4 from Saint-Germain-Laval to Neulise.
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"The finale is extremely tough. Nobody will be able to hide there. Even Wednesday's time trial will make a difference between the GC contenders," said Jorgenson of the 35-kilometre test against the clock.
The Visma-Lease a Bike team competing at the Critérium du Dauphiné will also include Dylan van Baarle, Steven Kruijswijk, Tiesj Benoot, Bart Lemmen, and Koen Bouwman. And like many teams and riders, they will use the eight-day race as important final preparations for the Tour de France, which starts at the end of June.
"We're going into this race with GC ambitions for myself and Sepp. We start with seven strong riders, most of whom have ridden together recently in preparation for the Tour," Jorgenson said.
"The competition is very strong with riders like Primož Roglič, Remco Evenepoel and Juan Ayuso. The level will undoubtedly be high, but that will only be good after the last training block."
Jorgenson won Paris-Nice and Dwars door Vlaanderen this spring and said that he is looking forward to racing again but that his main goal is on the Tour de France. "I am curious about my form. We will all do our best," he said.
2023 Vuelta a España winner Kuss finished eighth at Volta ao Algarve, 13th at Volta Ciclista a Catalunya and won the mountain classification at the Itzulia Basque Country this season.
Sports director Frans Maassen said the team wants to see how far Kuss and Jorgenson can go in the GC. "At Paris-Nice, Matteo showed he can handle a week-long stage race well. Sepp's qualities have been known for a while. He has been indispensable in our recent successes in several Grand Tours. Last year's Vuelta was the crowning achievement of his career. Hopefully, he can also be an important part of any success this summer," he said.
"We're going into this race with high expectations, but we also know that we won't be at our best until the Tour de France in about four weeks."
The team have not yet confirmed whether two-time Tour de France champion and last year's Dauphine winner Jonas Vingegaard will be on the start line this year's Tour.
He is currently heading to an altitude training camp in Tignes, France, to continue his recovery from injuries suffered in a crash at the Itzulia Basque Country in April.
In addition, Wout van Aert (Visma-Lease A Bike) recently returned to racing at the Tour of Norway, two months after his terrible crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen
"As a team management, we are curious to see how things go with the guys riding the Tour. We still don't know exactly which riders will be in the squad because we don't know if Jonas Vingegaard and Wout van Aert will be fit again. We have to wait and see. We just want to do as well as we can in this race. It's a race we'll have fond memories of," Maassen said.
