"I'm still relatively early in my cycling career" - Bart Lemmen aims to become a cornerstone of Visma | Lease a Bike's plans in the future

Bart Lemmen had never pictured his future as a professional cyclist back in his army days. But the 29-yea-old Dutchman made an impressive debut at the WorldTour level with Visma | Lease a Bike this year including a Tour de France debut in support of runner-up Jonas Vingegaard. Now he can eye to further improve in years to come with hopes of someday becoming the leader of the Dutch formation himself.

In an interview with Wieler Revue, Lemmen explains what made the biggest difference compared to previous years. Of course, it's the team, but it's more than that. "The most important thing was that I'm still relatively early in my cycling career. I'm getting better every year. Until last season, I had never ridden a full winter. If you do that, you don't get worse, of course."

"I don't know exactly how much I've improved in terms of turning point. I think it's not too bad, but what has improved the most is my level after five hours of racing. I used to be a rider who could do a great twenty-minute test or get a KOM on Strava, but that doesn't mean you're a good WorldTour rider."

On that note, Lemmen admits he could still improve. But it needs to be done appropriately. "I'm not really a 'training animal' yet," he says, laughing. "Although it doesn't automatically mean that I'll get better if I work five extra hours. When I was still working in the air force, I said that too, but it's not a rule that I'll ride faster."

Still, Lemmen sees plenty of room for improvement. "What should make me stronger: an altitude training camp. I haven't been at altitude in 2024 and such a training camp works for almost everyone. In 2023, I've been at altitude once on my own, but that's different than in a team. I was busy with other things, like cooking, shopping or getting my equipment in order. I'm looking forward to going up high with the whole team."