Coup dur pour Visma-Lease a bike

Hard blow for Visma-Lease a bike. This Tuesday, via its official social networks, the Dutch cycling team formalized the withdrawal of the American Sepp Kuss for the 2024 edition of the Tour de France, which begins this Saturday, June 29. To explain this defection, the team explains: “Sepp Kuss is not sufficiently recovered from Covid and will not start the Tour de France. He will be replaced by Bart Lemmen.” This package will deprive the Danish Jonas Vingegaard, double title, of his lieutenant most precious in the mountains.

Last year, the mountaineer made a big splash, winning the Tour of Spain, ahead of Vingegaard, who was again his leader. Even in 2023, the American had competed in the three grand tours. A performance that few attempts, since it is obviously very demanding. Since the beginning of this 2024 fiscal year, Kuss, a native of the state of Colorado, was further behind.

Vingegaard will count on Jorgenson

At the beginning of June, during the Critérium de Dauphiné, the American never managed to follow the different climbs that were in the program. Sepp Kuss ended up dropping out of this event. This year, the team of Visma-Lease a bicycle had another bad news. As, for example, with the very heavy falls of Vingegaard and the Belgian Wout Van Aert last spring. Both stars had suffered numerous fractures. The two men will indeed be at the start of this 2024 edition of the Tour de France, but their current state of form remains, despite everything, more than uncertain.

In this formation, it is therefore the Dutchman Bart Lemmen who will replace, numerically, the American Sepp Kuss. As for the mountain, it is another American, and more precisely Matteo Jorgenson, winner of the last Paris-Nice then second in the Critérium du Dauphiné, who must accompany the Danish Jonas Vingegaard in the mountain as late as possible. Jorgenson could also become the new leader of his team, if Vingegaard is not fit.