'Never Lose Hope' - Behind the scenes documentary shines new light on Team Visma | Lease a Bike's 2024 Giro d'Italia struggles
Cycling
After their all-conquering dominance of the Grand Tours in 2023, Team Visma | Lease a Bike had a lot more difficulty and misfortune at the 2024 Giro d'Italia. In a new behind the scenes documentary, you can the see the team's struggles like never before.
Dropping today (Friday, 14th of June, 2024) on the official YouTube channel of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, 'Never Lose Hope: Inside the Beehive', you can go behind the scenes of the 2024 Giro d'Italia at the Dutch-based team. From the highs of Olav Kooij's victory on stage 9 and Cian Uijtdebroeks' impressive performances in the general classification and time spent in the White Jersey of best young rider, to the lows of the disappointing abandons of both the aforementioned duo through illness and both Robert Gesink and Christophe Laporte after crashes.
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Above all however, the documentary opts to put a positive spin on the opening Grand Tour of the season, displaying Team Visma | Lease a Bike's never say die attitude and constant optimism despite all the adversity suffered.
"A first stage win in a Grand Tour, crashes, eight days in the white jersey, illness, but above all: a team that never loses hope. Our Giro d’Italia was full of mixed emotions," reads the video's description. "Team Visma | Lease a Bike entered the first Grand Tour of the year with the goal of winning as many stages as possible. Relive from within the team how we worked towards the first stage win in a Grand Tour by our homegrown talent Olav Kooij. See how the team coped with the withdrawals of Robert Gesink, Christophe Laporte, Kooij and white jersey wearer Cian Uijtdebroeks. And how Jan Tratnik, Tim van Dijke, Edoardo Affini, and Attila Valter never lost hope on the road to Rome."
The team's Tour de France ambitions are currently very much up in the air also with the superstar duo of Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard facing a race against time to be fit for the Grand Tour. If this documentary is anything to go by however, we can expect to see Team Visma | Lease a Bike fighting and scrapping for everything regardless of who is wearing the jerseys.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- It would be great if the World Champion's jersey could be rotated among McNulty, Simmons, and Jorgenson. They threaded the needle perfectly. If each hadn't done exactly what he did, exactly when he did it, the race would have gone to one of the more heralded superstars. That said, how nice that this humble and hardworking guy gets his moment in the sun.
MarkFour07-11-2026 - This is a really interesting idea, which, if well prepared could even be very successful. Very little money needs to be involved for a first season and any success could lead to rapid interest from sponsors.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Hmmm, you seem to have a very convenient black and white view of things. Perhaps you haven’t been around much to discover how complex problems can become over time with people who know how to control, manipulate (or worse) others so gradually or subtly that you arrive at an irresolvable situation before you realise. This is how many inconveniences get introduced to the young, naïve, passionate or “desperate”, knowing they are not armed, protected or strong enough to defend themselves once it’s too late. Why do you think omerta culture is so widespread, why do you think so many people continue to go through so many awful things in life that others can’t understand anyone getting into? Life may be far more jolly for you but you would do well to understand (or reflect more on) the real world to refrain from being so quick to criticise those in a hard spot that may have genuine reason for speaking out.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Seriously do you think when somebody gets into a serious accident, the ambulance is called by the hurt person?🤦 there is always a buddy system in place for a risky job. police , firefighters etc so that if someone gets hurt, the other call that in.abstractengineer07-11-2026
- I get the point totally. We live in the snowflake society where some riders forget they are getting paid to ride and get results. When they have a few issues they try to look outside of the real issue instead of themselves. It odd so many of the team are making no complaints and getting on with their job. If you do not like what you do find another job simples. Tough love as my mum would say.paultryan200207-11-2026
- many people advise him to grow slowly and rather do giro and/or vuelta instead of tdf. but i can totally understand that he is not satisfied with taking over once pogi declines, but instead beat him in his prime. so if he goes for tdf again, i‘m all for it. let‘s hope that pogi recovers soon!Ketterechts07-11-2026
- So gracious to offer something no-one would be prepared to pay for. The Giro is not the Tour and doesn’t command the same interest or attract the same “elite” (those willing to pay to be a part of something they consider has ego boosting potential). Roadside viewing will always largely remain free for everyone outside circuits. Introduction of a symbolic entrance to mountain climbs is worthy of exploration. Asking 1-2€ isn’t going to repulse real fans (most will spend 50-100€ on their outing that day all things included) but will prevent a portion of the total knobhead thrillseekers who will join in any large gathering as long as it’s free, just because they’re attracted to crowds, without which it it difficult for them to work up their anti-social behaviour.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- How is radio going to help when someone went over a cliff or bridge or off the roadside into a forest unnoticed and is laying there unconscious?Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- Yep, next we’ll be accusing F1 drivers of avoiding Le Mans.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
- But on what is that opinion based? Are you holding him to a different standard than others? Are you saying he should do learn to like something he doesn’t Are you saying he hasn’t achieved enough Are you saying he pretends to be better than his results? It’s actually a really strange opinion to oust if you consider it objectively or rationally. Try applying it to others or yourself by asking if not EVERYONE should then be doing more? Nobody in athletics or swimming gets criticism for not expanding their repertoire when a rival or someone else does. In fact, most who move to another event get accused of running from their rival. Opinions are boring, the reasons behind them are what count.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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Now streaming on YouTube: 𝐍𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 𝐋𝐨𝐬𝐞 𝐇𝐨𝐩𝐞: inside the beehive 🍿 An exclusive behind-the-scenes story about our Giro d'Italia. Watch here: youtu.be/2kgtUXhhwZE
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