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Follow us on GoogleTeam Visma | Lease a Bike have not had the smoothest start to the 2026 season. The Dutch outfit have already seen leaders Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard suffer crashes and delays, while Menno Huising broke his collarbone at the Tour Down Under. And in Oman, things have not run quite as planned either.
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Visma travelled to the Middle East with seven riders, but were already down to five starters for Friday’s Muscat Classic. While the rest of the squad raced the 1.Pro one-day event, intended team leader Axel Zingle was only able to complete a training ride.
One day later, the Frenchman also failed to start the Tour of Oman — and the same applied to his lead-out man Owain Doull. Zingle explained the situation as “ill” after posting a 73-kilometre training ride in Oman, leaving Visma on the start line with five riders rather than the usual seven.
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Visma | Lease a Bike still fight for every opportunity
So who was left? Sepp Kuss, Bart Lemmen, Tijmen Graat, plus two 19-year-olds from the Development Team: Polish rider Patryk Goszczurny and Belgian Aldo Tailleu. After Lemmen had already shown his form with fifth place in the Muscat Classic, the youngsters also made their presence felt in stage 1 of the Tour of Oman.
Goszczurny slipped into the day’s break, picked up bonus seconds along the way, and as a result was set to start stage 2 in the young rider’s jersey. He was also named the day’s most combative rider.
“It was a beautiful day,” Goszczurny said afterwards via the team’s official channels. “I did have the ambition to make the early break, but I never expected it would turn out like this. I felt really, really good today — and the fact that my effort also earns me two jerseys is fantastic.”
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Patryk Goszczurny in the flight of the day.
“It would be nice to take one of these jerseys home. The young rider’s jersey might be difficult, but the most combative jersey would be a great target,” added the Pole, who also saw fellow teenager Tailleu finish 16th on the day, in a stage won by Juan Sebastián Molano (UAE Team Emirates–XRG).
“This victory is important for me, it means a lot,” Molano said after the stage. “Last August I had to end my season early because of knee problems, so after five months without racing and two months without riding, this win tastes even sweeter.”
Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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Latest Comments
- Eight riders told to go for stages, and nobody gets one—hard to know what the plan was there. It’ll be interesting to see whether they pick a clear leader next time.bikebuffj10-11-2026
- Was Bernal’s 20th place really their best GC result? I thought he might have finished higher. Either way, it sounds like a rough Tour for the whole team.gearguru3310-11-2026
- Five days in breaks with no stage win is a painful stat. The team had chances, but they need to turn those opportunities into results.julien10-11-2026
- The Onley Vuelta example makes sense: a team with someone to rally around often looks much more cohesive. Hopefully INEOS can build on that rather than expecting a quick return to the Sky years.cadencekingm10-11-2026
- Thomas is right about the ambiguity. Eight riders all chasing stages can end up pulling in different directions, even if nobody’s deliberately working against anyone. They need a clearer plan once the GC leaders are out.robert6510-11-2026
- What a mess. The report makes it sound as though nobody properly explained the decision, and that’s hard to defend.jennifer1910-11-2026
- I’m still learning the rules: does moving left in a sprint automatically bring a penalty, or does it depend on whether the other rider is blocked? It sounds like Brand wasn’t impeded here.patriciaw10-11-2026
- A final decision still needs a proper explanation. If the federation’s complaint goes nowhere, I hope the officials at least review how they handled the riders afterwards.michael5410-11-2026
- Fair play to Lucinda for saying Marie had won fair and square. That kind of sportsmanship matters, especially after such a controversial decision.raceready710-11-2026
- Schreiber beat Brand on the road, so the jury needed to explain clearly why that slight deviation warranted relegation. Being cut off before she could give her account sounds appalling.lindae10-11-2026