{"id":2008146,"date":"2026-06-23T14:46:31","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2008146"},"modified":"2026-06-23T14:46:31","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T11:46:31","slug":"kuss-and-jorgenson-return-as-mountain-kings-for-vingegaard-at-the-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2008146","title":{"rendered":"Kuss and Jorgenson Return as Mountain Kings for Vingegaard at the Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"
Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike will bring a North American accent to their quest to dethrone Tadej Poga\u010dar at the Tour de France.<\/p>\n
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Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson were at the top of a Tour 8 confirmed by the Dutch \u201cBees\u201d\u00a0on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Victor Campenaerts, Bruno Armirail, Edoardo Affini, Per Strand Hagenes, and Davide Piganzoli make up the balance of the team that will back Vingegaard at the Tour de France from July 4.<\/p>\n
Wout van Aert is a key name missing from the Visma-Lease Tour roster. The Belgian superstar was sidelined by an infection only last week, forcing the team to make a late reshuffle to its planned selection.<\/p>\n
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\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 #TDF2026 <\/p>\n
Tour de France \ud835\udc2c\ud835\udc2a\ud835\udc2e\ud835\udc1a\ud835\udc1d. \ud83d\udc9b pic.twitter.com\/Cf2bPA92sI<\/p>\n
\u2014 Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) June 23, 2026<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n
Vingegaard, who won the yellow jersey in 2022 and 2023, is chasing a place in history this summer. The 29-year-old will become only the ninth man in history to double victories at the Giro d\u2019Italia and the Tour de France if he dethrones Poga\u010dar.<\/p>\n
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Speaking at a full bells \u2018n\u2019 whistles YouTube presentation on Tuesday, the newly instated lead directeur sportif Marc Reef said the team has one plan: to win.<\/p>\n
Even in the absence of Van Aert, \u201cThe Killer Bees\u201d will pack one of the strongest squads in the Tour de France to support that ambition. But is it strong enough to squash Poga\u010dar, Isaac del Toro, and UAE Emirates-XRG?<\/p>\n
That\u2019s the question that will dictate the dynamic of the entire race.<\/p>\n
Kuss and Jorgenson tapped for superdomestique support<\/h2>\nJorgenson will land into the grand depart hot off the back of a standout ride at the Tour Auverge-Rh\u00f4nes-Alpes. (Photo: Getty Images)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Kuss and Jorgenson will be mountain kingmakers for Vingegaard in one of the hardest Tours de France in recent memory.<\/p>\n
Both of these North Americans boast grand tour top-10s on their palmar\u00e9s and have proven they\u2019re among the most impactful domestiques in the bunch.<\/p>\n
Kuss, hot off the back of a sensational ride alongside Vingegaard at the Giro d\u2019Italia, will be making his sixth Tour de France start. The Coloradan was crucial to Vingegaard when the Dane blasted to back-to-back wins at the 2025 Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a and 2026 Giro.<\/p>\n
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The \u201cEagle of Durango\u201d has become a lucky charm for Visma-Lease a Bike having been part of all nine of the Visma team\u2019s grand tour victories.<\/p>\n
Jorgenson will race his fifth Tour de France in a row this July. After narrowly missing out on the podium at the recent Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4nes-Alpes, the Boise native is a dark horse for the overall top-10.<\/p>\n
Jorgenson and Kuss might need to play both offense and defense at this Tour de France. Poga\u010dar looks deadly as ever. Visma-Lease a Bike needs to keep its arch rival under control and<\/em>\u00a0under pressure.<\/p>\n
No Van Aert, Laporte, Yates as Visma-Lease a Bike braces for super team battle<\/h2>\nVan Aert will be a huge loss for Visma-Lease a Bike at the 2026 Tour de France.<\/span> (Photo: Jean Catuffe\/Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike had to be draw deep from its bench for this Tour de France. The team lost two-time grand tour champion Simon Yates to retirement this winter. Premium powerhourse Christophe Laporte is in the infirmary. And Van Aert will miss the Tour for the first time in seven years.<\/p>\n
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Van Aert\u2019s absence after being sidelined by an infection is a particular blow. He\u2019s won 10 Tour de France stages, the green jersey, and was a Swiss army knife helper for his team.<\/p>\n
It was Piganzoli who got the lucky ticket by being called up late to replace Van Aert. The young Italian climber just raced to a breakout eighth overall at the Giro d\u2019Italia in his first grand tour with Visma-Lease a Bike.<\/p>\n
Piganzoli is as far from being a like-for-like replacement for Van Aert as you can get. However, it\u2019s a switch that could actually balance a team that typically weights its Tour teams toward heavyweight rouleurs.<\/p>\n
Will the gamble pay off? We\u2019ll find out this July.<\/p>\n
Racing starts with a team time trial around Barcelona on July 4.<\/p>\n
Visma-Lease a Bike: 2026 Tour de France selection<\/h2>\n
Don\u2019t miss a moment of the Tour de France. Get stage previews, insider recaps, and expert analysis from Velo delivered straight to your inbox with the Velo Tour Daily email newsletter.<\/em><\/p>\n
Sign up for Velo\u2019s Tour Daily Newsletter<\/span><\/p>\n
[analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/GettyImages-2234688095-scaled.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated June 23, 2026 02:03PM Jonas Vingegaard and Visma-Lease a Bike will bring a North American accent to their quest to dethrone Tadej Poga\u010dar at the Tour de France. Sepp Kuss and Matteo Jorgenson were at the top of a Tour 8 confirmed by the Dutch \u201cBees\u201d\u00a0on Tuesday. Victor Campenaerts, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[71],"class_list":["post-2008146","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008146","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2008146"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2008146\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2008146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2008146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2008146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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