Team Visma | Lease a Bike have won two Grand Tours this year and continue to perform at the very top level but financially speaking they are losing ground to the other top teams. Bjarne Riis, one of Denmark's most important figures and compatriot of Jonas Vingegaard, worries that this could become a problem for the Dutch team.
“One thing is that they have a lot of money, UAE. Another and more important thing is that they are good at their work. Yes, they may have an unlimited budget, that’s just how the rules are. There is no salary cap," Riis said in words to Feltet. "Big teams like UAE and Lidl-Trek follow the rules, and they have been good at hiring skilled people and finding young riders with great potential. It’s not because the others don’t have any money.”
More and more money is coming into the sport as the years go by, with super teams like UAE Team Emirates - XRG being formed and breaking records left and right; Lidl-Trek and Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe who have a new budget over the past two seasons and are consistently signing new leaders; and even Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale who are reportedly having a budget of €30 million from 2026 onwards.
That is also leading to bigger gaps in the World Tour budgets, and difficulties for the smaller teams to keep up with the level that the sport is currently at. “Many think it is so terrible that there are teams with much greater financial muscles than others. That is especially true among the French teams. They think it’s unfair. No, it’s not. The other teams just have to get better. There is no financial limitation right now. Deal with it instead of complaining.”
Number 4 in terms of money?
And financially speaking, Visma has been overtaken by several teams since their golden 2022 and 2023 seasons, Riis believes. Several recent reports suggest the same. “I don’t think Visma is anywhere near being number two or three in the peloton measured by economy. They are far from the three biggest – UAE, Lidl-Trek and Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, is my guess.”
And whilst they continue to sign quality riders, they can't match the pace of UAE who sign leaders and many of the world's brightest talents every single year. “To me, they look like a team that lacks money, because many of their strong riders are leaving. It’s not because they don’t want to keep them. They have chosen to bet heavily on Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, and the riders just below them are leaving because the team simply can’t afford to keep them.”
This winter Visma has brought in Tim Rex and Pietro Mattio from the development team; World Tour riders in Timo Kielich, Bruno Armirail and Owain Doull; but has bet on several ProTeam and continental-level riders whom they hope to develop such as Filippo Fiorelli, Davide Piganzoli and Timo Kielich.
“The people behind the team have many of their own sponsors connected to the team: Lease a Bike, which is owned by the Pon Bike group, and they ride bikes from one of their brands, Cervélo. To me, that suggests they are not as financially strong as they would like to be," Riis concluded.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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