Visma | Lease a Bike’s shadow leaders Simon Yates and Matteo Jorgenson discuss their exact roles for the Tour de France

Visma | Lease a Bike is clear ahead of the Tour’s start in Lille: they are here to win. As a result, there are no Dutch riders in the selection, something that was already communicated back in January. “I can imagine that the Netherlands is disappointed,” said Niermann. “We are here to win the Tour, and for that, we have selected the best riders. We are an international team, and we want to win. Hopefully, we can bring Dutch riders again soon.”

“We think it’s possible to beat Tadej. If that wasn’t the case, we might as well go home. Jonas is in top form, and we need that,” explained the team’s sporting architect. “You don’t win the Tour without a team, but the Tour is often won by the strongest riders. That’s how it has been in the past, and that’s probably how it will be in the future too.”

And a strong team is exactly what you need, especially in the first eleven stages of the Tour. “The chaos will create itself, with how the stages are designed and what the weather conditions are like. That’s also why we selected these riders,” Niermann explained. “I’m not going to deliberately lose time, but racing in this part of the world isn’t exactly my favorite thing to do,” Yates added with a touch of understatement.

“We have a classics-oriented team with a few climbers added in,” analyzed Jorgenson. “For me, that’s the difference with UAE Emirates-XRG. The key to this Tour is surviving those first ten days and treating them like classics. In the mountains, it becomes simpler, but those classics-style traits can really help us.”

Jorgenson finished in the top ten of last year’s Tour and shared leadership with Vingegaard in Paris-Nice. “I mainly want to help Jonas. That can also be done by riding for GC myself and staying high up,” analysed the American. “I’m as good as last year; I feel at my best. In the Dauphiné, the feeling was the same, but the field was stronger.”

“Every grand tour I ride is part of the learning process,” said the rider who recently extended his contract with Richard Plugge’s team through 2029. “Riding a grand tour with the GC in mind and helping Jonas also helps me improve. It’s easier for me than for Jonas because there are fewer expectations,” said the always articulate Jorgenson, who skipped GC ambitions in the Giro to contest another Tour alongside Vingegaard.

For Yates, it’s still a bit of an adjustment. Just over a month after his victory in the Giro, he’s already at the start of another grand tour. “I actually haven’t even really celebrated my Giro win, I realize now. I’ll save that for later in the year,” the Brit said with a laugh.

“I didn’t have many days to celebrate my Giro win, but I knew that from the start of the year,” the climber repeated several times. “So it wasn’t a surprise. I was back pretty quickly in Tignes, and I’ve worked hard to be in shape. Physically, it was easier than mentally. You can do everything right in training and feel great, but you also need to switch your mindset. Like I said, I knew that beforehand.”

After an entire career at GreenEdge, Yates will now be riding in support for the first time. “I’ve never taken on this role before. It’s something new for me. The collaboration so far has been good; Jonas comes across as very professional and relaxed. I’m looking forward to racing with him. Will I get my own chance? You never know how things will go, but I’m not under any illusions.”

His brother Adam has been working for Tadej Pogacar for several years now, but don’t expect the Yates brothers to spill any secrets – internally or certainly not externally. “It’s nothing new to race against Adam. We get along well, and maybe it’s a boring answer, but once we’re racing, we’re professional,” Yates knows how things go.