"Anyone who claims that he can appoint me the new Remco Evenepoel in ten years is completely crazy" - Have Team Visma | Lease a Bike figured out the best approach to scouting talent?

The competition to sign the most promising young riders has never been fiercer, with teams across the professional cycling landscape searching for the next breakthrough star. Team Visma | Lease a Bike is one of the many WorldTour squads investing heavily in scouting and development, adding four new young talents (Tijmen Graat, Menno Huising, Jørgen Nordhagen, and Matthew Brennan) to their professional roster over the winter.

But the team’s talent identification efforts go beyond just signing the latest prospects. Robert de Groot, head of development at Visma, highlighted the riders already making an impression in their setup, “We have three young guys with Patryk Goszczurny, Matisse Van Kerckhoven, and Elliot Rowe who are showing things at the moment that we think are very interesting,” De Groot told Wieler Revue.

In an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws, De Groot discussed how scouting has evolved in recent years, explaining that Visma has been actively focusing more on youth development since 2019. "In those six years, it has taken off enormously. When I started, there were six training teams. Today there are 21. Almost every WorldTour team and many ProTeams have their own youth team."

With so many teams now offering development opportunities, young riders face a crucial decision in balancing the best environment for their progression with the best experience early in their careers. To help streamline this process, Team Visma | Lease a Bike has formed a partnership with the JEG-SKIL-DJR Academy, a junior team where they can place emerging talent. One example is Ashlin Barry, who will ride for the JEG-SKIL-DJR Academy this year.

However, the increasing intensity of youth recruitment has also introduced challenges. "It's just how the market works, unfortunately. And then the question is: can you be the only one to be left behind?"

“We are now starting to look at the newcomers, boys aged fifteen to seventeen. Should we go even younger? I am adamant: we are not doing it today, but I do not rule out that we will still shift downwards."

"The younger you select, the worse the predictability. It's already a constant balancing act: 'Are we going to do this?' 'Is he really that good?' Anyone who claims that he can appoint me the new Remco Evenepoel in ten years is completely crazy. Unfortunately, you see that some teams still take financial risks based on the idea: 'Then the neighbours won't have them."

Another shift in the scouting landscape is the growing presence of agents in youth cycling, "In 2019, I knew one or two young riders who worked with an agency, today all our prospects do that, except one. You can wonder whether that is a healthy situation.

“I come from football. I have seen boys there of 12, 13 years old with dollar signs in their eyes, or certainly with their parents. That puts a lot of pressure on those children."