"Instead of doing another altitude training in Sierra Nevada, I needed to race" - Christophe Laporte explains his nomination for Giro d'Italia

In his ten years in professional peloton, Christophe Laporte never had the chance to get a taste of racing the Giro d'Italia not Vuelta a Espana. However tomorrow, this will be change as the European champion is in Torino, ready to make an unlikely debut at the Italian Grand tour, replacing injured Wout Van Aert in Visma | Lease a Bike lineup.

"If all goes well, it doesn't change anything for the Tour de France. I find myself at the Giro because I haven't raced much since I couldn't do the Classics. So, instead of doing another altitude training in Sierra Nevada, I needed to race. It was a choice that we made together with the team, while keeping my participation in the Tour in mind," he says at press conference.

"I wasn't expected to be here, but as you know, we lost Wout for this Giro and I was called up and I'm very happy to be here," explained the important part of Olav Kooij's sprint train, who will have possibility of playing his own card on certain stages.