"It’s not easy competing against Pogacar and Van der Poel, but absolutely the desire is there to win" - Visma ready for Flanders and Roubaix clash

Grischa Niermann has been tasked with being the head man on Team Visma | Lease a Bike's car during the cobbled monuments, a position that comes with a lot of responsibility. The team has the arduous task of contesting with Tadej Pogacar and Mathieu van der Poel at the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but it is perhaps the one team who can actually challenge them.

As the main figure, they have Wout Van Aert, who switched up his preparation in 2026 and, despite the ankle fracture suffered in January, has been able to reach his best level quite confidently and at the right time.

“In general, it’s good to do different things again once in a while. For two or three years now, we had the plan to go on altitude and to do less racing in spring, and especially in March. But now we change it again and I think that it’s good that he already did some races now," Niermann said in words to Domestique.

This year the Dutch team has set itself a goal of winning a monument, not specifically the cobbled ones - and this seems to have put some pressure away from these two specific days. The German sports director is very keen on making sure the team suffer as least as possible from the pressure that falls on their shoulders, and that Van Aert's career does not depend on winning one of them.

“These are the races we want to win, but we are not chasing them blindly. It’s not all over if he doesn’t win Flanders or Roubaix. I think he will be remembered regardless. But his career is far from over, so there are a lot of chances.”

It is, but very hard. Some choices have to be made as well in order to try and reach this goal, partly from Niermann himself. “In the end, I’m in the team car, I’m making the calls, and it’s my responsibility, finally. I also did the wrong calls, and it’s good that we take a shared responsibility there.”

Asked about Van Aert specifically, he has described the team leader: “It’s not only within the team, I think he’s also loved all over the world, and especially in Belgium, of course. Because he’s a great guy and he’s a great leader of our team. And I think people love him for all the victories that he has, but also for the defeats and the bad moments he had. And yeah, he’s just a normal human being...”

The past few years have seen him get injured or ill several times at bad moments and the gap has grown, however the ambition remains the same due to his level on the bike. “We know it’s not easy competing against Pogacar and Van der Poel, but absolutely the desire is there to win".

But there is also a lot of work to shrug away the pressure, which at times seems to be as big or bigger than that of his main rivals. Last year's defeat at Dwars door Vlaanderen also came as a major defeat which only increased it, something he can take revenge on this year.

“He is already a big champion, and he will be remembered, so it doesn’t matter if, at the end of his career, he has one Monument on his palmarès or five or ten.”