"It would be nice if we could announce something at the Tour" - Visma | Lease a Bike close to bringing in new title sponsor

Being at the top in professional cycling requires more money than ever and against the backdrop of several teams increasing their budget, Team Visma | Lease a Bike is looking to find a new title sponsor and increase its budget into 2027. According to team CEO Richard Plugge, it's possible that this could happen even before the Tour de France.

UAE Team Emirates - XRG have a budget of around €60 million per season whilst INEOS Grenadiers has been steady at around €50 million for many years already. However over the past seasons, Visma's spot as the main rival of UAE has been slowly fading with the entry of two 'giants' in the sport.

One is Lidl-Trek, who this winter signed Derek Gee and Juan Ayuso whilst maintaining its group of leaders. The other is Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe who, since the sports drink giant entered the team, has conducted several massive moves in the market.

Both teams have a very high budget, but as it seems, they are also willing to invest money to buy out contracts from other riders. Red Bull did this with Primoz Roglic into 2024 and now Remco Evenepoel into 2026, using their financial means to build a top team quickly, instead of adjusting to the contract durations that they have imposed on them.

Red Bull's signings of Evenepoel, Roglic, Giulio Pellizzari, Jai Hindley; aside from the development of Florian Lipowitz as a stage-racer, has turned it into a new super-team (who also has built a strong classics block from nothing, who performed all across this year's spring campaign).

Visma in the meantime has maintained its leaders in Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert, but new big names have not been as easy to come by. The signing of Matteo Jorgenson into 2024 was perfect whilst Matthew Brennan's rise as a sprinter also promises a lot. But with Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel at their prime, both Vingegaard and Van Aert do not have an easy time taking the big wins that the Dutch team once had - although that tide looks to be turning.

But Visma need money in order to be competitive in the transfer market against their rival teams - with Decathlon CMA CGM Team potentially on the verge of becoming another giant. Visma itself is leaving its spot as the team's main title sponsor, and the Dutch team is looking to replace it currently.

“We don’t have a new main sponsor yet. But not 'not' either. At this moment, we do not have a new main sponsor. It is no until it is yes, and only yes when it is actually finalized," Plugge said in words to Het Laatste Nieuws. "We are having good conversations with a number of very promising parties. It looks very good on a number of fronts.”

Careful in his words, the team manager knows not to be overly confident at this point in the game, but knows that the earliest the team is able to secure its future at the top, the better. And Wout Van Aert's Paris-Roubaix win may be a turning point on the negotiations table.

“Every victory is important, but this one really went around the world and came at a very opportune time in that search, as well as in strengthening the bond we had already built with several parties," he argued. "I hope to be able to share more in a few months. It would be nice if we could announce something at the Tour start in Barcelona. And if not, January 1, 2027 is still fine too.”

However, whilst the pressure is on, its not an existential threat - rather, an attempt to increase the level of the team as a whole, against a set of teams that also continue to evolve by the year.

“I am not stressed because we have a good long-term outlook. Visma is a very loyal and important sponsor who wants to continue. With Lease a Bike, Rabobank, and Mistral AI as well, we have a nice pool of sponsors. We are looking for that additional main sponsor to be able to take a next step," he concluded.