Ambitious Laporte and debutant Kooij lead Team Visma | Lease a Bike at Milan-Sanremo
The season's first monument, Milan-Sanremo, takes place on Saturday. It's already the 115th edition of La Primavera. A confident Team Visma | Lease a Bike travels to northern Italy, where the team hopes to continue the successes of recent weeks.
On Saturday, Christophe Laporte will be one of the eye-catchers for Team Visma | Lease a Bike. The thirty-one-year-old Frenchman is in good form going into his tenth race, as evidenced by his fifth place at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, fourth place at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne and tenth place at Strade Bianche. He hopes to continue his excellent form at the Italian classic.
"I think Milan-Sanremo is a great race. We are not the favourites to win, but we can play an important role in the final. On the Poggio, I will try to stay in front as long as possible and fight for the win. If there is a big group, we have a great sprinter in Olav Kooij. It would be great if we could finish on the podium", Laporte says.
"I am really looking forward to riding my first monument"
This season, his teammate Kooij has already secured four victories. The 22-year-old sprinter took two stage wins at Paris-Nice last week and will compete for the first time at Milan-Sanremo. "I am really looking forward to riding my first monument. I've had a good start to the season, so we'll see what the race brings."
Kooij is curious to see how he will digest his first monument. "I don't think we have the top favourite in our team, although Christophe has started the season very well. As a team, we need to be in a good position and follow the strong men. On the Poggio, it's up to Christophe to go up with the better guys."
"This time, the underdog role suits us"
Sports director Maarten Wynants likes that, for once, Team Visma | Lease a Bike does not have a clear favourite in the team. "This time, the underdog role suits us. Christophe and Olav are in top form, but if Mathieu van der Poel and Tadej Pogacar accelerate, it will be quite a challenge to follow them", the Belgian says. "Fortunately, the favourite doesn't always win. It could go our way if we are lucky."
Milan-Sanremo is the longest one-day race at 288 kilometres. The course has few secrets and is mostly flat, with the first six climbs coming 130 kilometres into the race. The Cipressa and the Poggio are traditionally the most demanding challenges of the day. "Everyone knows where you need to be well-positioned", Wynants continues.
"The race has a slow start, but is very intense, which makes it special. You can't compare it with the Tour of Flanders or other monuments. These are real battles of exhaustion. Milan-Sanremo is the easiest classic."
In addition to Laporte and Kooij, the Team Visma | Lease a Bike squad includes Tim van Dijke, Mick van Dijke, Julien Vermote, Tosh Van der Sande and Johannes Staune-Mittet.
