Visma-Lease a Bike Confirm Roubaix Squad: Van Aert Leads, Laporte and Benoot Anchor the Yellow Wall
Visma-Lease a Bike have confirmed their seven-man squad for Sunday's Paris-Roubaix, with Belgian talisman Wout van Aert leading a unit centred on long-time team-mate Christophe Laporte and a quartet of dedicated cobbled domestiques. Tiesj Benoot, Italian time-trialist Edoardo Affini, Norwegian rouleur Per Strand Hagenes, Belgian neo-pro Axel Zingle and German powerhouse Matteo Kielich complete the line-up.
The squad announcement caps a turbulent winter for the Dutch outfit, who lost three cobbled specialists in the off-season — most notably Dylan van Baarle to Soudal-Quick-Step — and arrived at this Spring Classics campaign without their usual depth on the pavé. Van Aert's fourth place at the Tour of Flanders on Sunday was hailed as a significant restoration of his cobbled credentials after two injury-ravaged seasons, and Visma have built their entire Roubaix plan around the Belgian finally breaking what he himself has called the "Roubaix hoodoo" of his career.
"Wout is in the best Classics shape since 2022," team manager Richard Plugge told Wielerflits on Wednesday. "He has done the work, he is mentally in the right place, and the entire team will ride for him on Sunday. After the difficult last few years, we feel he deserves this kind of full support — and we believe he is capable of taking the result that has eluded him so far at this race."
Laporte's confirmed selection had been in some doubt over the past fortnight after the Frenchman struggled with a calf complaint at Gent-Wevelgem, but team medical staff confirmed on Tuesday that he had passed his final fitness checks and would line up alongside Van Aert as expected. The 2023 Gent-Wevelgem winner is widely considered the most reliable cobbled lieutenant on the team, and his ability to deliver Van Aert into pole position before the Carrefour de l'Arbre will be central to the Visma plan.
Tiesj Benoot's inclusion is more of a curiosity given his heavily-publicised winter rumours of a move away from the team, but the Belgian remains under contract until the end of the year and Plugge has insisted he is "fully committed" to the spring campaign. Affini, the time-trial European champion, is expected to play a similar role to Politt in the UAE squad — a long, slow burn through the early sectors before peeling off to deliver Van Aert into the decisive moves.
Most striking is the absence of Matteo Jorgenson, who confirmed earlier this week that he would skip Paris-Roubaix to focus instead on the Ardennes Classics. The American time-trial champion's decision frees up a slot in the squad for Norwegian rising star Per Strand Hagenes, who at 22 will make his Hell of the North debut after impressive form at Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders. The Norwegian's grand tour ambitions for later in the season have been put on temporary hold to allow him to focus on this single objective.
Visma have not won Paris-Roubaix in their current incarnation, and the team last claimed the cobbled Monument back in 1985 in their distant TI-Raleigh past. For Van Aert, who has finished third twice and will turn 32 later this year, Sunday represents perhaps his final realistic chance to add the Hell of the North to a palmarès that already contains Milan-San Remo and three Tour de France stages on the Champs-Élysées. As the Belgian himself put it on Tuesday: "I have spent my whole career trying to win this race. I am not done trying yet."