That victory was much needed as Pogačar’s UAE Team Emirates–XRG has supplanted Vingegaard et al. as cycling’s best team, and by a large margin. So 2026 should be the year in which Visma–Lease a Bike looks to get some of its mojo back and challenge the undisputed heavyweight champ for the title. At least, that’s the goal. And, as usual, the focus will be on Vingegaard, who has won the Tour twice and the Vuelta last year – and needs only the Giro d’Italia to complete the Grand Tour “trilogy,” an achievement not yet on Pogačar’s CV.
Going for the trilogy – and the double
That is why he is riding in the Giro for the first time in his career, according to the team program set out in press releases on its website. “I have been thinking about riding the Giro for a while now,” Vingegaard is quoted as saying. “It’s one of the biggest races on the calendar, and it’s also one I have never done before. I really want to experience it, and now feels like the perfect moment. I would love to add the pink jersey to my collection.”
In going for the “trilogy,” he’ll be supported by some old and new hands: Sepp Kuss, Davide Piganzoli, Bart Lemmen, and Wilco Kelderman in the mountains; Victor Campenaerts and Edoardo Affini on the flats; and newcomer Timo Kielich wherever he’s needed. His main rival in the race will be Pogačar’s former Grand Tour lieutenant João Almeida, so it won’t be a ride in the park.
But, as team Head of Racing Grischa Niermann noted, the team’s primary goal has not been changed. “Our biggest goal every year is to win the Tour de France,” he said. “In addition, we want to win the Giro, win a cycling monument, and aim for the highest possible in the Vuelta.”
Vingegaard is Visma’s only rider able to challenge Pogačar in the Tour, which means that the team sees him going for the double, which the UAE superstar achieved in 2024. Can he do it? Niermann certainly believes he is. “Apart from the fact that he has always wanted to do the Giro,” he said, “we are convinced that racing the Giro will benefit his level in the Tour. Of course, we are aiming to win the Giro, but the Tour remains our main objective.”
Vingegaard’s fitness in 2024 and 2025 was much affected by the disastrous crash he suffered in the Itzulia Basque Country in early April 2024. It sometimes takes years to recover from the kind of injuries he sustained in that accident, and the 29-year-old Dane confirmed this at the end of last year, saying on social media after riding in the Saidama Criterium in November, “You never really know when you have a bad crash like that if you will get back to the same level you had before. It’s only by the end of this year that I can see that I’m able to push in the same way that I was before my crash.”
An ambitious schedule for van Aert
Van Aert, the team’s other leader, will ride the spring Classics, support Vingegaard in the Tour, while also going for a few stage wins, and ride in the Vuelta. “In the spring, I want to be there from Omloop Het Nieuwsblad all the way through to Roubaix. I want to show myself everywhere and seize every opportunity that comes my way,” he said. “Unlike recent seasons, I’ll be back on the start line of the Italian classics, Strade Bianche and Milan–San Remo… I consider Strade Bianche and Milan–San Remo to be among the most beautiful races of the season, so I definitely don’t want to miss them in 2026.”
The 31-year-old Belgian suffered a severe knee injury in the 2024 Vuelta and was not really himself until that already legendary victory in the Tour. In the Classics, he will again be facing Pogačar as well as his longtime nemesis Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck), so it will be a difficult few months, especially as he crashed in the snow at the Exact Cross in Mol on January 2, sustaining a small fracture and sprain of his ankle. He has since had successful surgery and returned to outdoor training only nine days later and will likely suffer no after-effects.
Van Aert is also pencilled in for a return to the Vuelta, accompanied by 20-year-old Matthew Brennan, who looks like a potential star but has not yet found his speciality. It will be his first Grand Tour, and the focus will be on stage wins. As Niermann put it, “He’s still young, so we have to be patient with him. If everything goes according to plan, he will ride major races this year, such as Milan–San Remo, the Tour of Flanders, and the Vuelta a España. He will mainly go there to learn; we do not expect him to immediately race for results.”
The invaluable Matteo Jorgenson will again be part of Vingegaard’s support in the Tour, but will ride the Tour de Suisse as team leader. “The Tour is always the highlight of my season,” he said. “I’ll do everything I can to be in top form and to support Jonas Vingegaard as best as possible. Before that, I’ll start in the Tour de Suisse. It’s an ideal opportunity to race as a leader for the general classification once again, something that really motivates me.” He is also riding the Classics, with Liège-Bastogne-Liège a targeted race. “I’m setting the bar high, and that makes it a great challenge,” he said, a sentence that can be applied to his team as well.
The team will certainly feel the loss of Giro winner Simon Yates, who abruptly retired a week ago. But they have signed some strong new riders for this season, such as the talented French puncheur Louis Barré, who will be with van Aert in the Classics, the strong veteran Bruno Armirail, Kielich and Piganzoli. With the veteran domestiques Kuss, Christophe Laporte, and the apparently indefatigable 34-year-old Campenaerts, Visma–Lease a Bike may have the firepower to compete with the Pogačar juggernaut.
