As some of you are discussing the van Aert rumour i thougth it is nice to make a short summary about the 2025 Visma LAB.
According to pcs they have 24 riders under contract for 2025.
Visma has some obvious leaders:
-van Aert for the classics
- Vingegaard for the tour and other big stage races
- Kooij for the sprints
Behind these leaders they have some swiss army knifes and thats probably the biggest strength of this team that they have riders who can shine on various terrains. Jorgensen, van Baarle, Valter and Benoot. As new addition in the swiss army knife team i see Bart Lemmen.
For the mountains they have proven riders like Kelderman and Kuss who can step in a GC role or support Vingegaard very, very long. In addition to them they have Cian, Tulett, Gloag, Staune-Mitett and Nordhagen as talented GC riders or climbing domestiques. And Kruijswijk as old but proven mountain work horse.
The classic/sprint team is completed by riders like Laporte, Hagenes, Brennan and van der Sande.
Riders like Huising, Graat and van Belle i´m not sure where i should place them. Maybe someone can help?
New additions according to the rumours should be Simon Yates - perfect for GC in the Giro or Vuelta and a very good climbing domestique for the Tour.
Thijssen as addition for the sprints and classics.
All in all the team is very well rounded and can play a serious role in every race they want to.
Where do they have some potential? With the departure of the van Dijke brothers they are a little bit short in the classic, roleur typ of rider. So thats what i would aim for. But in the end this team is so good and if they don´t have the same bad luck in injuries like this year, they will challenge UAE again in many races.
Are there more rumours?