Visma | Lease a Bike knows where to position Kooij in Milan-Sanremo: "It makes all the difference"

Visma | Lease a Bike will start Milan-Sanremo on Saturday without Wout van Aert and Christophe Laporte but with Olav Kooij. This means the Dutch team will hope for a specific scenario or a very good Kooij. Sports director Maarten Wynants and the leader himself look ahead. "We are at the start with a strong team, and with Olav, we have a candidate who can compete for victory if it comes down to a sprint."

Kooij won a very difficult stage in Tirreno-Adriatico and that gave him a boost. "I am satisfied with my start to the season. After a good start in Oman I had a small setback, but I recovered strongly with my second place in Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne. The goal for Tirreno was to win a stage and I succeeded. That gives me a lot of confidence."

"At the start of your season you hope that the training work in the winter will pay off in good results. It gives confidence that I succeeded right away. Hopefully I can show myself again on Saturday. As a team we will have to do our best to position ourselves well at the most important moments in the race," said the Dutch rider, who finished in the top twenty last year in his debut in the Italian spring classic.

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Visma | Lease a Bike expects Pogacar and co to make it a challenging race

Wynants completely agrees. "Positioning is extremely important in a race like this. It makes a lot of difference whether you turn up the Cipressa and Poggio from the front or from the back. In Tirreno-Adriatico, Olav showed that he should be taken into account. Not only was his stage win superb, but his strong climbing work also stood out. If the race explode early, we still have two more cards to play with Ben Tulett and Axel Zingle," the Belgian refers to the more punchy types in the team.

"It could be a very tough race given the weather forecast for Saturday. Tadej Pogacar's team will do everything they can to make the race as hard as possible. We have to be prepared for that. We are at the start with a strong team and with Olav we have a candidate who can compete for victory if it comes down to a sprint," the team leader in charge indicates.

So they are very much looking forward to it at Vsma | Lease a Bike. "It is a very beautiful race that largely takes place along the Mediterranean coast. Milan-Sanremo is every year a battle between puncheurs and sprinters. That makes it fascinating and unpredictable," concludes Wynants. In addition to Kooij, Tulett, and Zingle, Victor Campenaerts, Dan McLay, Tosh Van der Sande, and Attila Valter have also been selected. They will mainly be responsible for positioning at the critical points.

Selection Visma | Lease a Bike Milan-Sanremo 2025

Olav Kooij
Ben Tulett
Axel Zingle
Victor Campenaerts
Daniel McLay
Tosh van der Sande 
Attila Valter

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Belgian analyst Wuyts pinpoints Ganna and Pidcock as the most dangerous Sanremo contenders, but is frustrated with Van Aert: "Why is he not there?"

Preview: Milan-Sanremo 2025 | The only monument where the weather report matters more than the legs

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