🇪🇸 #LaVuelta24 𝐅𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 off season. The very, very 𝐥𝐚𝐬𝐭 dance, after 18 years. 🥹 Today we are honoring a 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲. Enjoy your last ride, dear Robert! ❤️
Merijn Zeeman sees turning a team with "unsafe working environment" into a world-class structure as "their greatest achievement"
CyclingSunday, 15 September 2024 at 03:00
Despite harsh starts, Visma | Lease a Bike has become one of the world's two strongest cycling teams. The direct successor of famous Rabobank was taken over by two men - Richard Plugge and Merijn Zeeman, who together built an empire can be proud of six Grand Tour titles, among other great successes. But the success story ends here as Zeeman accepted an offer to move on from cycling and become the general manager of football club AZ Alkmaar from 2025.
"The Tour de France felt like the final event for me. For me, these are really the last few weeks now, that I now realise that these are the last times. It is double. On the one hand, I am looking forward to something new, but on the other hand, it is saying goodbye to a sport. And even more so, saying goodbye to people with whom I have shared joys and sorrows and experienced so much," Zeeman told In de Leiderstrui ahead of the Vuelta a Espana.
In 12 years with Visma | Lease a Bike, Merijn Zeeman managed to build an empire. However his starts with the team then knows as Belkin were far from idyllic. "Those early years were the hardest," the head sports director told
with De Volkskrant about the rough starts. "Actually after Rabobank had stopped as a sponsor. The culture and the atmosphere in the team were in every way the opposite of what you aim for."
"Thwarting each other, gossiping, every man for himself, leaking to the media. It was in very basic things: handing over follow-up cars dirty or not filling up the tank. If you're talking about an unsafe working environment, that's where it was. It was very unpleasant," Zeeman continued. "That we managed to turn that around, I see as our greatest achievement. No more leaning back, no more belittling others, no longer always shooting down every idea."
Read also
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- There’s no crying in cyclocross…Crashjames17-11-2024
- Pointless reporting. They are rivals, each tries their way to get their best result, with or without collaboration. As long as it’s all fair, why even report riders feelings about such stuff (yes I know, lack of other news). Anyone riding races will go through dozens of moments per race where they get emotional about the way someone else rides or takes advantage or doesn’t collaborate or more, it is natural, it is justified, it is NOT newsworthy!Mistermaumau17-11-2024
- I like that you can see you actually replied to you and not just to the same thread. :)Sweep16-11-2024
- I quite like it too, but it seems to be allergic to paragraphs.mikebeast16-11-2024
- A good analogy is germane; a bad analogy isn't. You could say the strength of an analogy can be judged by its germaneness. I thought the bank account analogy was rather germane indeed!mikebeast16-11-2024
- I do like the comment section better.Sweep16-11-2024
- You could also ask is CO just being used as a smoke screen to mask / explain illegal PED useSweep16-11-2024
- Where does one get the money to run this site and pay journalist for their travel and writing?Sweep16-11-2024
- Just wanted to point out that no where in this technical article did it state that carbon monoxide was either toxic or poisonous. In fact Fin Major actually repeated what I stated about CO in the comments of another article.Sweep16-11-2024
- Gets my vote
leedorney16-11-2024