4 possible replacements for Wout van Aert at the Tour de France

Visma | Lease a Bike will have to look for a replacement for Wout van Aert shortly before the Tour de France. The Dutch team announced on Tuesday that the Belgian star suffered an infection in his already battered elbow at the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes. Who within Visma | Lease a Bike can realistically replace the Paris-Roubaix winner? And be ready to be announced on June 23?

The eight-rider squad that had been shared for this season had already had to be changed earlier. Christophe Laporte fell in training in May and tore his quadriceps. As a result, the Frenchman’s name was crossed out. HLN had already reported that Per Strand Hagenes is being used as Laporte’s replacement for the Tour de France.

Alongside Laporte, Anton Schiffer, with a broken collarbone, and Niklas Behrens, with heart rhythm problems, are also in the treatment room. Both hardmen might not have been out of place as Van Aert’s replacement, who with his explosiveness, climbing ability, time-trial qualities and leadership is nigh-on impossible to replace.

Who is already on the Tour de France bus? Team leader Jonas Vingegaard will, if nobody else drops out, at least be supported by climbers Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson, rouleurs Edoardo Affini and Victor Campenaerts, and all-rounder Bruno Armirail. In that last category, we can also tentatively add Hagenes.

IDL Pro Cycling analyses 4 other Visma riders who might take the final spots in the Visma Tour de France team.

That leaves one place, and there appear to be three serious candidates for it. First and foremost is Wilco Kelderman, who had already said told IDL Pro Cycling that he is reserve for the Tour. “If someone drops out, I might have to go there,” he said. At the team presentation on Tuesday, however, he was still not taking a selection into account. “That also depends on who would then drop out.”

Using Kelderman could pay off, as he has proved to be an all-round rider. He is excellent in the mountains, but in recent years has also done more than ever on the flat and on difficult run-ins to finales and climbs. Kelderman fully confirmed that he had recovered from a crash in the Giro d’Italia, which forced him to abandon after just three days in May with a broken collarbone.

Of course, Kelderman can also contribute in the team time trial in stage 1 of the Tour. In that way he can play something of a Van Aert role, without being able to replace the Belgian one for one. The Tour of Switzerland, where he is being used as team leader, could be an important incentive towards July.

If Visma | Lease a Bike wants to make a different move following Van Aert’s departure and strengthen the climbing core around Vingegaard, Ben Tulett could be a good option. The young Brit hasn’t raced much this year, but he made a good impression in the UAE Tour and the Tour of the Basque Country, and he finished third in the Flèche Wallonne and Eschborn-Frankfurt.

During the German one-day race in early May, he emphasized to us that the Tour de France wasn’t on his schedule, but nothing is as unpredictable as cycling. In June, Tulett rode the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, where—riding in support of Jorgenson—he also finished 17th overall.

A Tour de France would likely derail Visma | Lease a Bike’s ambition to prepare Tulett for the Vuelta a España. In principle, the climbing specialist hopes to make a strong showing there, now that Vingegaard won’t be starting anyway. Tulett’s time trial isn’t great, but it’s certainly not bad either.

In the same category as Tulett, you can also argue for Jørgen Nordhagen’s presence in the Tour de France. Visma | Lease a Bike are taking things slowly with the 21-year-old Norwegian, who is only in his second season with the WorldTour team and had only one year with the under-23s before that. In that category, he proved in 2025 that he is world class.

Among the elite men, Nordhagen has already been strongly in form this year. He finished eighth in the UAE Tour, worked hard for Vingegaard in Catalonia and came up just short against Adam Yates in O Gran Camiño for the overall victory. Nordhagen also rode the Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, and after showing himself among the best in the classification on day six, he was forced to abandon the next day.

“Sick,” was the explanation from the team. Or did Visma | Lease a Bike already know more? That seems unlikely, because finishing the old Dauphiné would undoubtedly have been useful to sharpen the details ahead of a possible Tour. And many riders fell ill in that race, which made things difficult for Nordhagen.

If Visma | Lease a Bike most wants someone who comes closest to Van Aert’s qualities, then Axel Zingle could yet prove to be an option. The Frenchman was in excellent form in several French one-day races in early May and then took a month of training. He returned in the Circuit Franco-Belge and the Copenhagen Sprint, and was normally scheduled for the Route d’Occitanie on 18 June.

Zingle was brought in by Visma | Lease a Bike for 2025, with the aim of turning him into a strong classics rider. He has explosiveness, can get over a hill and has a fast sprint. The results have still been a little lacking, but in support of others he could still play an important role in the Tour.

Zingle knows what the Tour de France entails after appearances in 2023 and 2024, although on paper he is not a pure domestique. In explosive finales, however, he can certainly be an important piece for Vingegaard and perhaps also Jorgenson. His time-trial abilities are a fair bit weaker than those of Kelderman and Nordhagen in particular.

We mention the names above because there are also a few riders in the squad who, in terms of form or programme, cannot really be added to a Tour de France. Owain Doull, Filippo Fiorelli and Menno Huising are three examples of riders who already have a heavy schedule behind them.

Pietro Mattio and Tijmen Graat also seem a bit too young to be thrown in at the deep end already. Matthew Brennan has the Vuelta on his programme, where he will get the chance to sprint. In the Tour de France, the Brit would have to ride in support, which does not seem to fit. Moreover, Brennan has already done a very solid chunk of racing in 2026.

Bart Lemmen, Davide Piganzoli, Timo Kielich and Tim Rex rode the Giro d’Italia in May, and the last three in particular were pretty spent in Rome. They do not seem able to cope with the double, which Vingegaard, with Kuss and Campenaerts, will indeed do. Lemmen perhaps could, as the climber came out of the Giro in excellent shape. However, he is riding the Tour of Switzerland, which looks like a telling sign.

That leaves Steven Kruijswijk. The 39-year-old Dutchman will retire after 2026 and had not raced since the Tour of Romandie in May. The Tour de France could be a wonderful farewell, but a gradual path towards the Vuelta a España as his final Grand Tour looks more realistic. He hinted strongly at that in Switzerland on Wednesday before stage 1.