Visma | Lease a Bike regroup after Jorgenson injury and name a Norwegian-British plan B for the Flèche Wallonne

It has been a testing spring for Visma | Lease a Bike. A winter plan built around four co-leaders for the Ardennes Classics — Matteo Jorgenson, Louis Barré, Ben Tulett and Simon Yates — has been systematically dismantled by injury and illness. Yates surprisingly retired before the season even began. Barré was not fit in time. Tulett withdrew from the Amstel Gold Race on Sunday morning after not recovering sufficiently from a knee injury sustained at the Tour of the Basque Country. Then, in the finale of the Amstel itself, Jorgenson crashed heavily and broke his collarbone, ruling him out of the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège.

Of the original quartet, not one will start in Huy on Wednesday.

The team have had to adapt quickly. For La Flèche Wallonne, Visma | Lease a Bike will rely on Jørgen Nordhagen and Ben Tulett as their best options for a result on the Mur de Huy, supported by Attila Valter.

The Norwegian is not a well-known name outside the most dedicated cycling circles. But his recent results demand attention. The 21-year-old finished second overall at the O Gran Camiño last week, impressing on the short, punchy climbs of the Galician race that are not entirely dissimilar to what awaits in Huy. He has been one of the bright young talents at Visma | Lease a Bike for some time, and Wednesday offers him a significant step up in class.

Tulett, meanwhile, was an absentee at the Amstel Gold Race and his exact condition heading into Wednesday is a question mark. The 24-year-old Briton is a rider Visma had planned to give a significant role across all three Ardennes Classics, but the knee problem that forced him out of the Basque Country — and then out of Amstel — has disrupted his preparation considerably.

The scale of the misfortune is hard to overstate. Visma | Lease a Bike specifically kept Jorgenson out of the cobbled classics this spring to have him fresh and focused for the Ardennes. He was to be their undisputed leader for all three races. When Vauquelin slid out 42 kilometres from the finish of the Amstel and Jorgenson had nowhere to go, that entire block of the season ended in an instant.

"We had high expectations for this race and were well prepared," sports director Frans Maassen said after the Amstel. "Everyone could see that Matteo was in great form, so it's very frustrating that our race ended this way. He looked fresh on those climbs, but unfortunately he crashed shortly afterward. That's extremely disappointing."

For Liège-Bastogne-Liège on Sunday, Jørgen Nordhagen is also set to start. He will be joined by Tulett — if fit — as the team's best remaining options for the final Monument of the spring.