Anything but ideal conditions for Wout van Aert and Visma | Lease a Bike at altitude camp

Van Aert is heading to altitude with six teammates from Visma | Lease a Bike: Timo Kielich, Edoardo Affini, Christophe Laporte, Niklas Behrens, Bruno Armirail and Davide Piganzoli. Matthew Brennan — another key name for the spring — has just finished the Tour Down Under. Other leaders such as Matteo Jorgenson and Jonas Vingegaard are expected to travel to altitude later.

The team has sent riders to Teide in February for years, but chose Sierra Nevada in 2026 to give the group a different setting. Over the next few days, they may end up questioning that decision, because the weather in southern Spain has been far from pleasant.

Van Aert — who broke his ankle earlier this year — spoke in Mol before departure. “I was able to ride my bike fairly quickly, and by now I can more or less walk normally again. I’ve had very little reaction from my efforts so far. It hasn’t been an easy month, but I can’t complain. I’m also travelling to Spain to keep building.”

Former Visma rider Johannes Staune Mittet has been in Sierra Nevada for a while already. As a Norwegian, he is used to tough weather — but even he has been hindered by snow and low temperatures. “This isn’t really what you’d call a warm welcome to an altitude camp,” he wrote on Strava. On 1 February, he added alongside his (for now) final outdoor ride: “This might be the last fresh air for the next two weeks.”

In the days that followed, he was only seen riding on Zwift, where he completed a bizarre six-hour virtual session on Thursday: 193 kilometres and 3,000 metres of elevation. The forecast for the coming days is not encouraging either, with plenty of precipitation expected and temperatures barely climbing above freezing. Only toward the end of next week does it look like there could be some improvement.

If anyone has a reputation for training through miserable conditions, it is Uno-X rider Jonas Abrahamsen — but even the hardy Scandinavian is currently training indoors in Sierra Nevada. On Thursday, he still rode 230 (!) kilometres on the virtual platforms.

Abrahamsen has been sharing glimpses of the team’s camp via Strava and Instagram, with their stay already nearing its end. Last week, they reportedly had to push the team cars out of the snow — and in recent days the Norwegian squad has also been unable to train outside at all.

Meanwhile, conditions on Mount Teide have been good. Thymen Arensman has been able to train perfectly on the volcano in recent weeks alongside teammates Bob Jungels, Carlos Rodríguez, Kévin Vauquelin, Oscar Onley and Axel Laurance. Lidl-Trek leaders Derek Gee and Juan Ayuso have also reportedly posted strong climbing times there. Mike Teunissen and part of the XDS-Astana core are also set up nicely on Teide, as are riders from Picnic PostNL (including Max Poole), Bahrain Victorious (with Matej Mohorič among others) and Soudal Quick-Step (Dylan van Baarle and Jasper Stuyven).

The temperature difference is significant: high in the Canary Islands it is still enjoyable riding weather, with pleasant temperatures of around 10–15°C and sunshine. In Chile — where Tom Pidcock and part of the Pinarello Q36.5 team had been staying — it was even warmer in the South American summer.