French Classics star Christophe Laporte has been confirmed for this Sunday’s edition of Paris-Roubaix in a timely boost to the Visma-Lease A Bike squad.
Already missing their top cobbled Classics one-day racer Wout van Aert because of a bad crash in Dwars door Vlaanderen, Visma-Lease A Bike’s announcement of their lineup for Sunday also sees Matteo Jorgenson missing from their roster.
The winner of Dwars door Vlaanderen and Gent-Wevelgem in 2023, Laporte has not raced since Milan-Sanremo because of sickness. Prior to that, he had collected top-five finishes in both Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Het Nieuwsblad.
Last year he was tenth in Paris-Roubaix and he also has a sixth place in the same race in 2021 but after his failure to take part in any of the Classics since early March, there is a sizable question mark about what he can do in arguably the hardest one-day race of them all.
Jorgenson is not part of the Visma-Lease A Bike line-up despite expectations that he would be taking part, with the team’s explanation limited to a single-line statement on Twitter, formerly X that “Matteo Jorgenson is not 100% fit and will not start on Sunday.”
Laporte, though, will be boosting the team’s line-up which will likely be centred on working for former winner Dylan van Baarle, with support also coming from Tim and Mick van Dijke, Per Strand Hagenes, Edoardo Affini and Julien Vermote.
Paris-Roubaix has been a race plagued by bad luck for Vimsa-Lease a Bike in recent years. Van Aert punctured out of contention for victory in 2023 on the Carrefour de l’Arbre cobbled section, allowing Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck) to ride unchallenged into the Roubaix Velodrome.
Prior to this, the strength of the team was reduced when Laporte suffered an untimely puncture just after the Trouee d’Arenberg sector.
It was the Frenchman’s third year running with bad luck at Roubaix after his wheel folding in half in 2022 also left him way behind the leaders. Before achieving his aforementioned sixth in 2021 while racing for Cofidis, he was forced to break with his foot on his wheel as those on his bike were worn out after the brutal day in the mud.
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