"It does not take away the intuition of the cyclists" - Team Visma | Lease a Bike announce changes to controversial control room

In 2024, Team Visma | Lease a Bike introduced a controversial control room, a move that sparked debate within the cycling community. However, the team has now made a significant adjustment to its use.

Speaking to IDL Pro Cycling, the team's head of performance, Mathieu Heijboer, explained the purpose behind the control room.

"We introduced the control room during the Tour de France," Heijboer stated. "A data analyst monitors all incoming information: weather conditions, social media, climb times, and more. The race coach mainly focuses on the TV, analyzing how our team and other squads are racing, which allows him to relay insights to our race director."

"You could do that from the couch as well, but this way, we centralized everything. During the Tour, it was really useful. We could see whether teams were riding offensively or defensively," added Heijboer, a member of Visma | Lease a Bike's sports management team.

Following an evaluation over the winter, the team has now scaled back the system.

"After evaluating things over the winter, we concluded that the added value of the control room during races is limited, so you won’t be seeing much of it anymore. However, the concept remains, and the bus will now be stationed at our High Performance Center in Den Bosch. There, we have all the necessary technology and strong connections at our disposal."

Heijboer explained the initial reasoning behind the setup.

"With our Performance department, we concluded that there is an overwhelming amount of available data. During the spring classics, we realized that you actually see more from home on the couch than the race coach does from the team car. By combining these insights, we came up with the control room—supported by Visma and BetCity. The idea was to centralize all publicly available information in one place, where both our data analyst and a race coach would be present."

"This setup ensures that all relevant data is filtered and sent to the race coach. That way, they don’t have to search for information themselves and can fully focus on communicating with the riders. It’s a tool that enhances our decision-making during races while also improving safety. Race coaches normally juggle many tasks—they watch TV, check social media, and make a lot of phone calls. We believe it’s far better for them to focus on communication."

Despite external criticism, Heijboer dismissed concerns over the system's impact on racing.

"We’re not turning it into a PlayStation. The riders still have to make split-second decisions, and there is no direct connection between the control room and the riders. We provide our insights to the race coach, and it’s ultimately their responsibility to decide whether to pass that information on to the riders or not."

He also emphasized that data does not replace instinct.

"In every sport, data is becoming increasingly important, but in my opinion, it does not take away the intuition of the cyclists."