"It's up to us to figure out a way to beat Pogacar again" - Visma | Lease a Bike hope Jonas Vingegaard will retake the Tour de France throne in 2025
Cycling
2024 was a Tadej Pogacar year and not even Visma | Lease a Bike could do anything about that. Despite the heroic effort to prepare Jonas Vingegaard for Tour de France after serious injuries, he had to settle wit title of 'the best of the rest'. But this year can be different.
"Our biggest goal is to win the Tour de France again," confirms Grischa Niermann, Head of Racing at Team Visma | Lease a Bike, in a press release. "Besides that, we also hope to fulfill our dream by winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, but it makes sense that the Tour de France will be our main goal. We already managed to win the Tour twice in our existence. We have strengthened ourselves on several fronts, so we confidently look forward to the season."
"It won't be easy, but it will be an exciting challenge," he continues. "It's up to us to work out a plan to achieve that goal. In 2022 and 2023, everything went superbly. We also had a good plan ready last year, but there we faced a very dominant Tadej Pogacar next to all the bad luck we had ourselves."
But the year starts with the Giro d'Italia where the team will play the card of sprinter Olav Kooij, supported by all-rounder Wout Van Aert. For the GC, they'll bring Simon Yates who was already close to winning the Corsa Rosa in 2018: "My biggest goal in 2025 will be the Giro. It's a race I have a lot of memories of - good and bad - so it inspires me to go for it full force again," Yates confirms.
Yet it's obvious that the pressure to perform will be at the Tour de France, where Visma | Lease a Bike need to retake the throne after Tadej Pogacar swept the race in 2024. "I can't wait to be at the start of the Tour again," the two-time winner Jonas Vingegaard says. "It is the race that means the most to me. It is therefore my goal to win in for the third time. I will do everything to be at the start in my best possible shape."
At the end of August, Vingegaard will also make his appearance in the Vuelta a España, the last grand tour on the cycling calendar. The Vuelta in 2025 packs as many as ten uphill finishes. In the successful 2023 for Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the Dane already managed to finish second there.
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- OFF TOPIC: OK, don't get mad with me... I have some very important news, something that can't be overlooked, something that can't be ignored!!! In the new documentary Anatomy of a G.O.A.T. (released in November 2026), legendary Belgian cyclist Eddy Merckx spoke about Tadej Pogačar: “He has revived a style of cycling that we had almost forgotten. He is now better than me.” Key statements by Eddy Merckx about Pogačar in 2026: - Acknowledging his superiority: This time, Merckx openly admitted, without any subsequent backtracking or reservations, that Pogačar had surpassed him and was now above him. This contrasts with 2024, when he quickly softened his remarks about Pogačar being faster. - The possibility of a historic treble (Giro, Tour and Vuelta): During the July Tour de France (where Pogačar claimed his fifth title), Merckx stated that Pogačar was the only cyclist in history capable of winning all three Grand Tours (the Giro d'Italia, Tour de France and Vuelta a España) in a single season, provided the conditions were right and he had sufficient team support. - Lack of serious competition: Merckx emphasised that Pogačar has no real rivals in the mountains, thanks to his extraordinary climbing ability and the fact that he continues to improve despite still being under 28 (he turned 28, or passed that age, in autumn 2026). - Praise for his racing style: He highlighted how Pogačar is bringing back the aggressive, uncompromising spirit of cycling's golden era, when races were not merely about calculated stages and tactical conservatism, but about attacking from long distances. PS: Now, this is real important cycling news. Capish?PogiSloFans09-11-2026
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