Yates replaces Vingegaard as leader for Visma | LaB in the Tour of Catalonia: "I know what to expect"

Earlier this month, Yates rode his first kilometers in the Visma | Lease a Bike kit in Tirreno-Adriatico. Born in Bury, the English rider finished fourteenth in the Italian stage race, just over two minutes behind winner Juan Ayuso. All in all, Yates can look back on a great week in Italy. "I really enjoyed that. Of course, it takes some getting used to in the beginning, but I had the feeling that I was getting better day by day."

A week later, the next important WorldTour race is already on the program: the Tour of Catalonia. "Of course there is not much time between the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya', Yates notes. Nevertheless, the 32-year-old climber is keen to get started. 'I'm really looking forward to pinning on a race number again so soon. I hope that I can improve my form a little bit in Spain"

According to Yates, anyone who looks at the course of the Spanish stage race will see many similarities with previous years. "The course is similar to previous years, so I know what to expect. It's always nice to race on the training roads around my hometown in Andorra. Hopefully I can get a good general classification here. Together with the team, I'm going to do everything possible to achieve that."

The Dutch team's goal in Spain is clear: "The eyes will be on Simon. He is our man for the general classification," sports director Marc Reef says about his leader in the upcoming Tour of Italy. "This race fits perfectly into his planned route towards the Giro d'Italia." In Italy, Yates will lead Team Visma | Lease a Bike. "In addition, Wilco and Sepp have both completed a good training block. I am curious about the form of both men. Perhaps Wilco, following Simon, can achieve a good result in the general classification."

However, the original plan was not to go to Catalonia with Yates as our leader. Former Tour winner Jonas Vingegaard was supposed to take on that role, but a hand injury sustained in Paris-Nice forced the Dane to skip the race in Spain. That is, of course, a real bummer, according to Reef. "It would be his first race together with Simon. Of course, it is unfortunate that he is not there, but we still have a strong team at the start in Sant Feliu de Guíxols."

Vingegaard's replacement is Matthew Brennan. The 19-year-old super talent recently took his first professional victory in the GP Denain, and has already shown several times this year that he has good legs. "He has started his first season with our WorldTeam great with the second place in the opening stage of the Tour Down Under, the double victory in France two weeks ago and the win in Denain last week," says Reef, clearly pleased by the Brit's performance. "Matthew is the fastest man in our selection here. He may be able to compete for the day's victory once, but we are not going to put any pressure on him. This will be another great week for his development."