Van Aert loses not only Laporte but also Classics talent, Visma | Lease a Bike wraps up UAE Tour in style

Visma | Lease a Bike and Wout van Aert had already swallowed a bitter pill this week with the news that Christophe Laporte and Dylan van Baarle will not be there on Opening Weekend, Laporte due to illness and Van Baarle not yet fully recovered from a broken collarbone. Behrens crashed so hard in the UAE Tour on Sunday that his ability to participate in the first weekend of March in Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne is suddenly in doubt.

Chris Froome (Israel-Premier Tech) and Arvid de Kleijn (Tudor) broke their collarbones, and Visma | Lease a Bike did not release any information about the exact severity of Behrens' injuries in a press release after the race. The 21-year-old German did not make it to the finish line. Only Bart Lemmen, Daniel McLay, and Tosh Van der Sande remained.

As sports director, Jesper Mørkov could not have been satisfied with the week in the UAE. The wave of misfortune that Visma | Lease a Bike also suffered heading into spring a year ago seems relentless. On Sunday, with the arrival at Jebel Hafeet, Lemmen had to settle for 29th place, 6.38 minutes behind winner Tadej Pogacar. "Today was a tough day. It's unfortunate that Niklas crashed out on the final day. We finished this race with only three riders."

"Daniel McLay's fourth place in the sprint of stage four was a bright spot," Mørkov tries to remain positive, but of course, Lemmen, Van der Sande, and McLay could not make a difference on the final day. "Tosh and Daniel tried to bring the peloton back to the front group, but it proved too difficult. Bart rode a solid final climb, though it wasn't for the top spots."

Those goals are already in a week during the Opening Weekend, where team leader Van Aert will show what he's made of. Sports director Arthur van Dongen has already said they don't seem to have a problem with the number of important men absent. "The main goals are not in the Algarve, for example, but in about five weeks."