"Not a single question has been answered" - Team Picnic PostNL accusations left unanswered by team boss, says Zonneveld
Cycling
Team Picnic PostNL, over the past few weeks, has been swarmed in controversy due to the now close to one hundred reports of a culture of fear within the team. The initial investigation was ran by Thijs Zonneveld, who was accused of conflict of interest by team boss Iwan Spekenbrink, but that hasn't resolved the situation.
The reports have come from all sides, with the initial report featuring 71 different individuals who provided testimony of their time with the team that ultimately led to the investigation quickly blowing up.
Overnight, riders and team staff were asked about the matter, with some later on publicly defending it; whilst others confirmed their insight of the time within the team.
Zonneveld is also the owner of BEAT Cycling, a team which has developed Frits Biesterbos - the World Tour structure's top sprinter this year.
However, Zonneveld has refuted the idea that the investigation featured conflict of interests, as Spekenbrink said in an interview with De Telegraaf published earlier this week. This was the Picnic PostNL manager's first public statement regarding the situation.
Team Picnic PostNL is under fire over reports of abuse within the team
Zonneveld responds to conflict of interest accusation
"I don't know a single rider who would choose, or has chosen, BEAT over Picnic PostNL," Zonneveld wrote on a Substack post. At the same time, he has confirmed the number of reports has grown to almost a hundred.
"We have also spoken to many current riders and employees. We just don't say who. Protecting sources is essential, especially because those sources fear the consequences."
There have been plenty riders from both men's and women's teams, as well as staff, who have reaffirmed their point of view on what they believed to be far from an ideal working environment.
Team Picnic PostNL riders raise serious issues
But Zonneveld's main issues comes with the fact that to this day, Spekenbrink remains silent on the questions he has asked directly to him:
"Because so far, not a single question has been answered, and not a single question has been discussed. Even in the article in De Telegraaf, it's about the form, not the substance."
Nicolas Roche called the management unsuited to cycling, providing an example of how the staff were rigid with the training schedules:
“They literally said: ‘We don’t care whether you do more or less, but you do what you are told.’ ‘Er, sorry?’ I said. ‘Am I getting a warning now because I trained for an hour longer? What the fuck?’ That was when I realised it was going to be a tough year.”
Female rider Esmée Peperkamp's public words were even more worrying, regarding the riders' personal health, as she revealed her menstruation wasn't taken into account, she was not allowed to change her bike fit even due to pain, and she had to eat the nutrition products the team provided her even if she could not digest them:
“My health is still deteriorating because I still don't produce enough hormones,” she said of current day. “If you don't produce enough hormones, your immune system deteriorates, making you more susceptible to infections".
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A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
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Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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- On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And we, what are we doing?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- And yet, it attracts people, even you. What’s more, it attracts the rival fanboys to fill cyberspace with endless pointless my hero is better than your hero blabla that’s all been heard before and only helps sell the site as an advertising platform. You know what the solution is but most can’t resist. No different than women who follow and discuss celebs through gossip magazines.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- he is doing 460 watts for 35 min to achieve 7 w/kg with VO2 at 96 , just unreal numbers.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- Just do it, and put up with the consequencesJumpyjohn08-11-2026
- "was a headliner at the Tour de France" Nobody cared about Piddie. Only rivals that were there for Pogi, Jonas, Remco, Sexias, Lipo, Del Toro and they were all expected to lose. Piddie was not even in any conversation.abstractengineer08-11-2026
- exactly, he had an amazing season, but with these overstatements they don‘t do him good.Ketterechts08-11-2026
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