As the professional cycling world begins its preparations
for the 2025 season, we have been looking back at how each time performed throughout
2024, and today we’re looking at one of the heavy hitters. For
Team Visma |
Lease a Bike, the 2024 season was marked by a mix of highs and lows. The team,
formerly known as Jumbo-Visma, entered the year with immense expectations
following an extraordinary 2023 season that saw them sweep all three Grand
Tours. With Primoz Roglic,
Jonas Vingegaard, and
Sepp Kuss claiming the Giro
d’Italia, Tour de France, and Vuelta a España respectively, the team blew away
the opposition in 2023 with one of the greatest seasons we’ve ever seen.
But 2024 presented new challenges. Primoz Roglic departed
for Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe, injuries and illness plagued key riders, and
Tadej Pogacar’s own all time great season shifted the balance of power. Despite
these setbacks, Visma | Lease a Bike still finished second in the UCI rankings
with 20,428 points and claimed 32 victories across the year. However, this was
a significant drop from their 29,654 points in 2023. The team’s talent was still
evident, but it was clear this season would not match the glory of the previous
year.
Under the leadership of CEO Richard Plugge, Visma | Lease a
Bike remains a powerhouse of the peloton. The team’s management has built a
force within the peloton based on talent development and supreme innovation, which
continue to be their guiding principles. Despite a turbulent season, their
ability to regroup and deliver competitive results highlights their strength as
a WorldTour team.
Let’s take a closer look at their year, starting with the
spring classics and moving into the Grand Tours before wrapping up with a look
at their transfers and plans for what the Dutch team will hope will be a return
to glory in 2025.
Spring season
Visma | Lease a Bike began the season on a strong note, as
Olav Kooij kicked off their campaign with a victory at the Clasica de Almeria,
followed by another win on stage 5 of the UAE Tour.
Wout van Aert, one of the peloton’s
very best riders, added to the tally with a stage win at the Volta ao Algarve.
Jonas Vingegaard then demonstrated his formidable form by dominating O Gran
Camino, where he won three stages and the overall GC, signalling that he was
ready to continue his 2023 brilliance. Vingegaard followed this with two stage
wins and the overall title at Tirreno-Adriatico, earning 250 UCI points and
reinforcing his reputation as one of the sport’s elite riders.
However, the team’s primary focus for the spring was winning
either the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, two monuments that have so far
eluded them. Early signs were promising.
Jan Tratnik claimed a victory at
Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, earning 225 points, while Van Aert triumphed at
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne the following day. The team seemed poised for a
successful classics campaign.
Then came the setbacks. The E3 Saxo Classic saw crashes take
out Van Aert, Dylan van Baarle, and Jan Tratnik, derailing their momentum.
Matters worsened at Dwars door Vlaanderen, where Van Aert crashed again,
breaking his collarbone and several ribs in a high speed fall, and his injuries
ruled him out of both the Giro d’Italia and the remainder of the spring
classics. Matteo Jorgenson provided some consolation with a victory at Dwars
door Vlaanderen, earning 225 points, but illness prevented him from performing
at his best in Flanders or Roubaix.
The team managed to salvage some results in other classics.
Tiesj Benoot secured a third-place finish at the Amstel Gold Race, but their
spring campaign was ultimately overshadowed by injuries and missed
opportunities.
Jonas Vingegaard had looked superb in the early part of the season
Of course, we’re missing perhaps the most defining moment of
Visma’s entire 2024, as the season’s most devastating moment came in April at
the Itzulia Basque Country. Jonas Vingegaard, riding in a showdown against
Roglic and Remco Evenepoel, suffered a catastrophic crash on a descent. The
injuries, a broken collarbone, broken ribs, and a collapsed lung, hospitalised
him for 12 days and threw his Tour de France title defence into serious doubt.
But would he recover in time for July?
Grand Tour season
The Giro d’Italia was a subdued affair for Visma | Lease a
Bike, and with no serious GC contenders due to injuries, the team relied on
Olav Kooij for stage results. Kooij delivered with a win on stage 9, providing
a rare and much needed highlight in an otherwise quiet race.
The focus then shifted to the Tour de France. The big
question was whether Jonas Vingegaard, just three months removed from his
horrific crash, could compete with Tadej Pogacar, who had already decimated the
field at the Giro. With a week to go before the Tour, Visma | Lease a Bike
announced that Vingegaard would return to defend his title, and so his Tour de
France campaign once again became the focal point of the team’s season. But
could he really be back to his best just months on from the Basque country
horror?
Vingegaard silenced doubts early on. On stage 2, during the
San Luca climb, he was the only rider able to stay with Pogacar, setting the
stage for another epic chapter of the inseparable duos rivalry. However, cracks
in Visma’s strategy and power appeared on stage 4, as without Sepp Kuss, who
missed the Tour due to COVID-19, Vingegaard found himself isolated on the Col
du Galibier. UAE Team Emirates, armed with arguably the best climbing squad
ever assembled, including Adam Yates, João Almeida, and Juan Ayuso, applied
relentless pressure. Vingegaard managed to follow Pogacar’s attacks for a while
but was ultimately dropped, losing nearly a minute on the GC. In that moment
there and then it was clear in just one year the balance had shifted, and UAE
Team Emirates now had more firepower than Visma.
That stage symbolised Vingegaard’s Tour, as he remained Pogacar’s
closest challenger in the mountains but couldn’t match his rival’s dominance.
Pogacar won six stages and the overall GC, claiming his third Tour title, while
Vingegaard settled for second. However, his mental strength and ability to
recover from such a severe injury cannot be overstated, and he also managed to
win stage 11 by outsprinting Pogacar, which was probably the team’s highlight
of the season.
The Vuelta a Espana began with high hopes for Wout van Aert,
who sought redemption after a winless Tour for the second year in a row. Van
Aert started strong, winning stages 3, 7, and 10, and leading both the points
and mountains classifications, but once again an injury was just around the
corner for the Belgian. Unfortunately, his campaign ended abruptly with a crash
on stage 16, cutting short what had been a promising race, and leaving the 30
year old with a nasty knee injury.
Transfers
Visma | Lease a Bike’s
offseason has been busy so far, with
several key signings and departures. Simon Yates joined the team, bringing
experience and climbing expertise to a squad in need of depth. Yates could be a
brilliant signing for the team and for Vingegaard, and we can’t wait to see him
go up against his brother Adam who rides in support of Tadej Pogacar.
Victor Campenaerts also returns to the team, adding
versatility and huge wealth of experience. Promising young talents like U23
World Champion Niklas Behrens and Axel Zingle join the squad, bolstering both
their classics and developmental rosters. Meanwhile, the team bid farewell to
Jan Tratnik, who moved to Red Bull – Bora – hansgrohe, after the Slovenian
spent the last two years with Visma.
Perhaps the most significant moment of the off season so far
was Wout van Aert
signing a lifetime contract with Visma. The Belgian still has
a few years of his prime left, and
he’ll be desperate to add to his one
monument win, and get back to Tour de France stage winning ways, in the coming
years.
Which of the Yates brothers will come out on top in 2025?
Final verdict: 7/10
Look, it was always going to be pretty much impossible for
the team to replicate their 2023 season. Team Visma | Lease a Bike entered 2024
with sky-high expectations but faced one of their most challenging seasons in
years, and a campaign littered with crashes was not what they needed. Yet, even
without the crashes, does anyone truly believe they would have beaten Tadej
Pogacar and UAE Team Emirates in 2024? Or were they just comfortably beaten
into second place this year?
Despite these challenges, the team secured 32 victories and
a second-place finish in the UCI rankings. Jonas Vingegaard’s incredible Tour
de France comeback and Wout van Aert’s first two weeks of the Vuelta were
standout moments, however, the team’s lack of depth in critical races,
particularly the Tour and the classics.
With new signings like Simon Yates and the development of
young talents like Niklas Behrens, Visma | Lease a Bike is poised for a
stronger 2025. The question remains whether they can reclaim their dominance,
but one thing is certain: this team has the talent and determination to compete
at the highest level.
But can they turn the tables on Tadej Pogacar and UAE in
2025?