Visma | Lease a Bike without Zingle, but with top talents starting in the main sponsor's home country tour

Nordhagen finished thirteenth in the Tour de Romandie earlier this month. "I can see that I am making progress. In recent months, I have gained some nice experiences. Things are improving, and I’m taking that positive feeling with me to Norway," says the Scandinavian. "Cycling in Norway is very different from racing in the Netherlands or Belgium - there’s nowhere near as much of a crowd. In Scandinavia, the focus is more on winter sports. However, many family members and friends will be along the roadside and I’ll also meet some of my former teammates in the peloton. I'm really looking forward to that."

Brennan recently won a stage in Romandy. "Just last year, I was on the Development Team with him and now he's beating some of the best riders in the peloton in pure sprints. It’s inspiring to see what is possible. His victories a huge motivation for the rest of us in the same age group," said Nordhagen, who is in the so-called 'white jersey' group. "That approach is very similar to how we did things with the Development Team, now, we’re learning to race at the highest level."

"It’s great to see that the team has built a race calendar completely tailored to me. That approach is working, you can see that in my development. I'm learning how to ride finales with the pros. That should pay off into some good results in the coming months." According to Visma | Lease a Bike, Nordhagen is aiming for overall victory in the Giro Next Gen, which will be held at the end of June.

But first, there is the race in his own country, where Per Strand Hagenes will also be at the start as a Norwegian. "There are definitely some stages that suit him. At the same time, a few stages include quite a bit of climbing. Together with Attila, we also have the chance to go for a good result in the general classification. I hope I can carry my form from the past few weeks into the race and that we can achieve some strong results."

Jorgen Nordhagen
Matthew Brennan
Attila Valter
Thomas Gloag
Per Strand Hagenes
Tosh van der Sande.