Team Visma | Lease a Bike closed the 2024 financial year with an operating loss of 6.1 million euros, a figure that reflects the cost of sustaining a workforce geared to winning grand tours and classics in an environment of constant wage inflation. Its revenues reached 58.1 million, a very high figure within the peloton, but insufficient to match the spending power of UAE Team Emirates - XRG, whose structure benefits from state resources.
The comparison reveals a deeply asymmetrical competitive scenario. While Visma must balance its budget between victories, technological development and retention of key riders and a huge staff, UAE can reinforce year after year a block that is already the most dominant in the WorldTour. This not only affects signings, but also continuing to spend on cycling that in 2025 goes far beyond having a squad and staff.
The challenge for Visma is not simply sporting: it is structural. Staying in the elite requires taking economic risks that can hardly be sustained over the long term without new external income. The pressure to maintain a winning project, combined with the competition from a team with almost unlimited financial backing, means that the fight for every victory is also a struggle for the survival of the model.
In an analysis published by moneyinsport, the financial situation of Team Visma | Lease a Bike, the main rival of UAE Team Emirates - XRG and current number 2 in the UCI ranking, is revealed in detail. The financial statements show a sporting model that is as ambitious as it is costly.
A new owner and a complex structure
Visma, currently second in the UCI rankings, released its 2024 accounts last month. It is the first financial year since Yellow B Cycling BV - the team's legal entity - separated from Team Oranje BV, the structure with which they previously collaborated together with the Dutch speed skating team, now called Team Essent. The 2 key figures are as follows:
- Robert van der Wallen, Dutch billionaire and major investor.
- Richard Plugge, general manager of the team.
The exact shareholding distribution is not public, although the bylaws suggest a reinforced majority of 71% for key decisions.
Operating losses of 6.1 million in 2024
According to the report, the team generated €52 million in revenue, but still closed 2024 with €6.1 million in operating losses.Personnel costs reached €33 million, 64% of revenue, a high proportion but similar to other WorldTour teams.
The team - with 172 employees, well above the peloton average - supports a huge structure, which also includes 3.7 million in outsourced services.
Revenues dominated by sponsors and commercial barters
72% of revenue comes from sponsorship. Major partners include Visma, Lease a Bike, Škoda, Cervélo, Jumbo, SRAM and Rabobank. Although they do not generate cash, they count as income and expenses, which increases the accounting volume and generates temporary mismatches in depreciation (especially for Cervélo bikes).
The Visma Lease a Bike team, with economic losses
Goodwill and depreciation and amortization weighing down the balance sheet
The acquisition generated 10.7 million in goodwill, amortized over 10 years, which represents an annual charge of 1.1 million unrelated to the sports activity, and total depreciation -bike and other assets- amounted to 4.1 million.
Comparison with other teams: only Visma and Movistar Team lose
The moneyinsport study shows that most of the analyzed teams operated close to break-even in 2024.
Equipment with operating losses
- Visma | Lease a Bike: -6.1 million
- Movistar Team: -0.13 million
Equipment with operational benefits
- UAE Team Emirates: +3.3 million
- Ineos Grenadiers: +3.1 million
- Lidl-Trek: +2.5 million
- Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe: +2.2 million
The causes of Visma's losses are: headcount size, external expenses, amortization of goodwill and losses in the Partnership & Events area.
A sustainable model only with more money
These losses are probably intentional: management believes that the current level of investment is essential to compete with UAE Team Emirates XRG. The continuity of this model, according to this study, depends on three avenues:
- more sponsorship
- personnel and cost cuts
- or new capital inflow.
The July 2025 statutory change could anticipate a round of funding.
Can this model survive?
Professional cycling continues to depend on sponsors capable of taking recurring losses. As ASO concentrates record profits (111 million in 2024) and teams struggle to balance the books, the inequality between organizers and teams worsens, with examples such as the disappearance of Arkéa-B&B Hotels and team mergers, the article warns of a system under pressure.
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
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.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
He also helps oversee editorial governance across the network, setting standards for accuracy and consistency and coordinating updates or corrections when needed.
Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
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)...
Within 18 months of launch, he helped grow CyclingUpToDate’s English-language platform into one of the most-read cycling news websites, built entirely from the ground up. As both a professional journalist and lifelong cycling enthusiast, his focus remains on delivering accurate, timely, and well-contextualized coverage.
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- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - 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
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