"I struggle to understand it" - Johan Bruyneel puzzled by Picnic PostNL's transfers

Team Picnic PostNL continue to resist in the World Tour, but their market situation continues to be unfavourable, perhaps more than ever currently. The team had one major breakthrough in Oscar Onley this year who was fourth at the Tour de France, but already risks losing him despite the long-term contract that was previously signed. Adding to this, the team hasn't signed any new leader, whilst also losing Tobias Lund Andresen and seeing Romain Bardet retire.

He refers to team manager Iwan Spekenbrink specifically during The Move podcast, accusing the Dutch manager of being in a way a 'dealer' in the peloton. "Plenty of riders from his team left while still under contract. Tom Dumoulin, Marc Hirschi, Marcel Kittel… He takes a lot of money for the transfers of riders with existing contracts to finance the team, or maybe he pocketed it himself, I don't know," Bruyneel claims quite harshly.

It is however a situation that has marked the team's history, with several unexpected departures continuously preventing the team's progress into the top ranks. Despite having strong leaders and at times developing incredible riders, the premature end to their stay in the team launched continuous setbacks. Some of the contracts were broken too, with no real publicly known gain for the Dutch team.

Into 2024, the team signed 10 riders but success was virtually none, with Fabio Jakobsen never reaching a high level and only Frank van den Broeck providing a memorable moment on that year's opening day at the Tour de France. Into 2025, the signings of Robbe Dhondt, Juan Guillermo Martínez and Bjorn Koerdt have not provided many results.

However, despite the departure of leaders, the team has not improved its transfer situation into 2026. The seven transfers (James Knox, Timo de Jong, Dilon Corkery, Mattia Gaffuri, Frits Biesterbos, Oliver Peace and Jeri-François Renard-Haquin) are unlikely to make an impact in the World Tour. Only one of the riders is not from continental level, and only one also comes from the team's developmental ranks.

"I struggle to understand it. You have these stars in your team, and you get big sponsors on board like DSM, Firmenich, and so on. Then I don't know how he can justify those transfers to his financial backers," Bruyneel adds. "Maybe he makes a deal with the sponsors so they pay less. But your team is getting weaker and weaker. And it's one of the weakest, if not the weakest, in the World Tour".