{"id":7307,"date":"2026-06-23T19:37:34","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T17:37:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/?p=7307"},"modified":"2026-07-23T12:29:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-23T10:29:31","slug":"visma-tour-de-france-2026-squad-piganzoli-replaces-van-aert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/es\/visma-tour-de-france-2026-squad-piganzoli-replaces-van-aert\/","title":{"rendered":"Visma Reveals Tour de France 2026 Squad \u2014 Piganzoli Named as Van Aert&#8217;s Replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1 class=\"wp-block-heading\" style=\"margin-top:var(--wp--preset--spacing--60);text-transform:uppercase\">Visma Reveals Tour de France 2026 Squad \u2014 Piganzoli Named as Van Aert&#8217;s Replacement<\/h1>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Published: June 23, 2026 | Tour de France 2026 | Team News<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed their eight-man Tour de France 2026 roster at 16:00 CEST on Tuesday, June 23 and the headline call nobody fully expected: 23-year-old Italian Davide Piganzoli gets the nod over four other candidates to fill the spot vacated by Wout van Aert. Jonas Vingegaard heads to Barcelona on July 4 with two Grand Tour debutants in his support crew, a smaller rouleur engine than any of his three previous yellow jersey campaigns, and a climbing corps that just spent three weeks racing the Giro d&#8217;Italia in his service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visma | Lease a Bike&#8217;s 2026 Tour de France squad for Jonas Vingegaard:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Jonas Vingegaard<\/strong> (29, DEN) \u2014 GC leader, 6th Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Matteo Jorgenson<\/strong> (26, USA) \u2014 high-mountain support, 5th Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Sepp Kuss<\/strong> (31, USA) \u2014 high-mountain support, 6th Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Victor Campenaerts<\/strong> (34, BEL) \u2014 rouleur, TTT engine, 5th Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Bruno Armirail<\/strong> (32, FRA) \u2014 rouleur, domestique, 4th Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Edoardo Affini<\/strong> (29, ITA) \u2014 time trial specialist, 2nd Tour start<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Per Strand Hagenes<\/strong> (22, NOR) \u2014 classics engine, Grand Tour debutant<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Davide Piganzoli<\/strong> (23, ITA) \u2014 climbing support, Grand Tour debutant<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The team broadcast the announcement live on YouTube from its High Performance Center in Den Bosch, mixing rider interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and a squad reveal from Head of Racing Marc Reef. &#8220;We have one plan \u2014 to win,&#8221; Reef said during the broadcast. See the <a href=\"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/es\/tour-de-france-2026-startlist\/\">full confirmed team squads and GC leaders<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_21ff41-a4 .kt-block-spacer{height:41px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_21ff41-a4 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7307_21ff41-a4\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Why Piganzoli? The call that surprised everyone<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Four names were genuinely in the frame when Van Aert&#8217;s elbow infection was confirmed last week: Ben Tulett, Wilco Kelderman, Bart Lemmen, and J\u00f8rgen Nordhagen. All four had logical cases. None of them got the call.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piganzoli joined Visma last winter from Polti-VisitMalta, a small ProTeam with none of the infrastructure he stepped into in Den Bosch. He spent the Giro d&#8217;Italia working for Vingegaard, often the last man standing alongside the Dane on the hardest mountain stages, while still finishing eighth overall. That is not a number a pure domestique posts. Two weeks after Rome, he won La Route d&#8217;Occitanie, a five-stage French race, to confirm his legs had recovered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The choice is not a like-for-like replacement for Van Aert. Nothing about this situation is. Van Aert could pace a flat stage into a headwind at 55km\/h, win a bunch sprint, and then crack the top ten on a mountain finish the next day. Piganzoli does none of those things. What he does is climb at an elite level without cracking across three weeks and that is exactly what Visma&#8217;s 2026 route analysis told them they needed for the final eight stages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Nordhagen, 21 and arguably the better pure climber among the candidates, abandoned the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes through illness and carries zero Grand Tour experience. Kelderman, 35, has the experience but not the current form. Lemmen rode three weeks at the Giro and the fatigue risk was too high. Tulett, 24, is the long-term project \u2014 not yet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Piganzoli goes to Barcelona knowing the terrain. He has climbed alongside Vingegaard. He knows the communication, the pacing, the tempo before Vingegaard attacks. That counts for something in the mountains in week three.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_983487-41 .kt-block-spacer{height:42px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_983487-41 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7307_983487-41\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Van Aert void \u2014 what Visma actually lose<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Wout van Aert is back on the bike. He posted Sunday, June 22, from a group ride organised by a children&#8217;s cancer charity, &#8220;first attempt to hold my bars again&#8221;, but he will not be racing in Barcelona. His elbow wound became infected after he raced and won a stage at the Tour Auvergne-Rh\u00f4ne-Alpes in June, and the team pulled him the following week.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">He has missed the Tour de France exactly once in eight years at Visma. This is that year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What Visma lose is not just a rider. Van Aert won 10 Tour stages in his career, took the green jersey in 2022, and operated as Vingegaard&#8217;s insurance policy in every scenario the race threw at them. Need someone to close down a dangerous breakaway on a flat stage? Van Aert. Need a TTT engine on the Montju\u00efc ramp on stage 1? Van Aert. Need a rider who can sit at 400w for 20 minutes in a crosswind to split the peloton before a mountain stage? Van Aert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of the eight riders heading to Barcelona can do all three of those things. Campenaerts and Armirail handle the flat and TTT duties. Kuss and Jorgenson take care of the high mountains. Affini owns the individual time trial. Hagenes bridges the gap on rolling terrain. Piganzoli adds a second climbing card for the Alps. It is a functional squad, not a dominant one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/es\/tour-de-france-2026-route\/\">The 2026 route<\/a> has 54,450 metres of climbing and five summit finishes. Flat stage muscle matters far less here than in a 2023 or 2025 edition. That is the calculation Visma made. Whether it holds up against Poga\u010dar&#8217;s UAE squad, which will start stage 1 as the strongest team time trial unit in the WorldTour, becomes clear in Barcelona on July 4.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_2aca98-73 .kt-block-spacer{height:41px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_2aca98-73 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7307_2aca98-73\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What to watch in Barcelona: the stage 1 problem<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Tour opens with a <a href=\"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/es\/tour-de-france-2026-stage-1\/\">19.7km team time trial<\/a>. UAE Team Emirates-XRG have not lost a WorldTour TTT in 18 months. Poga\u010dar, Del Toro, Almeida, McNulty, and Yates can all drive at 55km\/h for 20km.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Van Aert was supposed to be Visma&#8217;s TTT engine alongside Campenaerts. He averaged 6.4 w\/kg over 20 minutes at his peak in that discipline. Campenaerts holds the Hour Record, 55.547km set in 2019, and is their best remaining option. Affini posted the team&#8217;s top time-trial finish at last year&#8217;s stage 5 in Caen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Visma will not beat UAE on July 4. The question is whether they limit the gap to under 20 seconds, which keeps Vingegaard in contention before a mountain has been climbed.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_f46159-6e .kt-block-spacer{height:42px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_f46159-6e .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7307_f46159-6e\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How to watch the team announcement<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The full Visma | Lease a Bike YouTube live show from Den Bosch remains available on the team&#8217;s official YouTube channel. The broadcast runs approximately 45 minutes and includes individual rider interviews with Vingegaard, Jorgenson, Kuss, and Piganzoli, alongside Marc Reef&#8217;s tactical overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-align-center\">Watch the Visma | Lease a Bike YouTube Team Presentation<\/h3>\n\n\n<style>.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-column-wrap{align-content:start;}:where(.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-column-wrap) > .wp-block-kadence-column{justify-content:start;}.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-column-wrap{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);row-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-md, 2rem);max-width:800px;margin-left:auto;margin-right:auto;padding-top:var(--global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);padding-bottom:var(--global-kb-spacing-sm, 1.5rem);grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-layout-overlay{opacity:0.30;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c > .kt-row-column-wrap{grid-template-columns:minmax(0, 1fr);}}<\/style><div class=\"kb-row-layout-wrap kb-row-layout-id7307_b896ad-4c alignnone wp-block-kadence-rowlayout\"><div class=\"kt-row-column-wrap kt-has-1-columns kt-row-layout-equal kt-tab-layout-inherit kt-mobile-layout-row kt-row-valign-top\">\n<style>.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col,.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{border-top-left-radius:0px;border-top-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-right-radius:0px;border-bottom-left-radius:0px;}.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col{column-gap:var(--global-kb-gap-sm, 1rem);}.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;}.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col > .aligncenter{width:100%;}.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col:before{opacity:0.3;}.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f{position:relative;}@media all and (max-width: 1024px){.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}@media all and (max-width: 767px){.kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f > .kt-inside-inner-col{flex-direction:column;justify-content:center;}}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-column kadence-column7307_1d8698-1f\"><div class=\"kt-inside-inner-col\">\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"LIVE | THE ARCHITECT: THE FINAL BLUEPRINT | Tour de France Preview Show\" width=\"720\" height=\"405\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/lnAj50hDRJc?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\">The Tour de France itself starts July 4 in Barcelona with the team time trial. Racing runs through July 26, finishing in Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n<style>.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_8fab25-98 .kt-block-spacer{height:41px;}.wp-block-kadence-spacer.kt-block-spacer-7307_8fab25-98 .kt-divider{border-top-width:1px;height:1px;border-top-color:#eee;width:80%;border-top-style:solid;}<\/style>\n<div class=\"wp-block-kadence-spacer aligncenter kt-block-spacer-7307_8fab25-98\"><div class=\"kt-block-spacer kt-block-spacer-halign-center\"><hr class=\"kt-divider\"\/><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Sources: Visma | Lease a Bike official YouTube announcement, June 23, 2026<\/em><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Visma Reveals Tour de France 2026 Squad \u2014 Piganzoli Named as Van Aert&#8217;s Replacement Published: June 23, 2026 | Tour de France 2026 | Team News Visma | Lease a Bike confirmed their eight-man Tour de France 2026 roster at 16:00 CEST on Tuesday, June 23 and the headline call nobody fully expected: 23-year-old Italian&#8230;<\/p>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[28,24,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-tour-de-france","category-news","category-updates"],"taxonomy_info":{"category":[{"value":28,"label":"Tour de France"},{"value":24,"label":"News"},{"value":25,"label":"Updates"}]},"featured_image_src_large":["https:\/\/franceletour.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/visma-tour-de-france-2026-piganzoli-replaces-van-aert-1024x576.jpg",1024,576,true],"author_info":{"display_name":"Gautier Durfort","author_link":"https:\/\/franceletour.com\/es\/author\/gautier-durfort\/"},"comment_info":0,"category_info":[{"term_id":28,"name":"Tour de France","slug":"tour-de-france","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":28,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Live the Tour de France cycling race. Get stage results, route maps, team insights, and historical highlights from every edition of Le Grand Boucle.","parent":0,"count":94,"filter":"raw","cat_ID":28,"category_count":94,"category_description":"Live the Tour de France cycling race. Get stage results, route maps, team insights, and historical highlights from every edition of Le Grand Boucle.","cat_name":"Tour de France","category_nicename":"tour-de-france","category_parent":0},{"term_id":24,"name":"News","slug":"news","term_group":0,"term_taxonomy_id":24,"taxonomy":"category","description":"Stay updated with the latest race highlights, stage results, rider interviews, and breaking stories from the world\u2019s greatest cycling event. 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