Picnic PostNL’s incoming sporting boss rejects ‘fear culture’ claims but admits team must “look in the mirror”
Cycling
Picnic PostNL’s incoming sporting boss Roy Curvers has rejected the wider picture of a culture of fear inside the team, but admits the Dutch squad now has to “look in the mirror” following the bombshell allegations surrounding its internal workings.
Curvers will take over overall sporting responsibility from Rudi Kemna next season after 18 years inside the organisation as a rider and sports director. His promotion comes as Picnic PostNL deals with the fallout from the investigation by NOS Sport and In De Waaier into allegations of an unsafe and controlling culture.
“I did not experience it as a culture of fear or a dictatorship,” Curvers told Wielerflits. “I experienced it as a team that wanted to achieve something together, where we could all contribute.”
Some of the changes within the organisation described in the investigation are familiar to him. “I recognise some of the changes discussed in the podcast,” he said. “But there was always room for dialogue.”
Team Picnic PostNL have been rocked by a bombshell investigation
“We really need to look at ourselves”
Curvers has witnessed Picnic PostNL’s transformation from Skil-Shimano into the current WorldTour organisation, spending ten years on the riders’ council before becoming a sports director in 2020.
He says riders were able to raise concerns during that period and that issues supported more widely within the group could be taken to management, although disagreements did not always lead to changes.
With Curvers preparing to take charge of the sporting side next season, an internal reassessment was already under way following a poor 2026 campaign.
“Of course we have to take this seriously,” he said. “Sportingly, after this poorer year, it was already clear that things had to change. Over the past few months I have seen people within the organisation stepping forward and saying: ‘This is not worthy of us, the way we are performing now.’ Yes, we really do need to look at ourselves and ask what we can do better.”
Curvers says the culture itself must also be examined. “We need to get to a situation where we are certain that nobody feels there is a culture of fear here,” he said. “We also need to be open to allowing external parties to look at this with us, but we certainly need to look in the mirror ourselves at what we can do better so that this does not happen to us again.”
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“If I had felt there was a culture of fear, I would have left”
Curvers remains adamant that the wider picture presented in the investigation does not reflect his own 18 years within the organisation. “If I had felt there was an unsafe culture or a culture of fear here, I would not still be here,” he said. “I would have tried to change something a long time ago. And if that had not worked, I would have left.”
He also disputed claims that specialists within the team were prevented from communicating with one another.
Curvers says responsibilities became more clearly separated as the organisation grew from around 50 people to 150, with trainers, sports directors and other specialists increasingly assigned their own areas.
“In my eyes, they were always able to communicate with one another, as long as the specialist remained responsible for the tasks they had actually been hired to do,” he said. “Discussing things has always been possible. It just should not be the case that a trainer decides race tactics or that a sports director or coach goes against the training advice of the trainer.”
Picnic PostNL has already announced an independent investigation into its team culture following the allegations. Curvers is due to replace Kemna as sporting leader next season, with the findings of that investigation set to arrive during a period in which the team is already preparing significant sporting changes.
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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