Team Visma | Lease a Bike is growing through a difficult period - As riders retire or take a break from the sport, Dutch team loses ground to UAE

There is a worrying trend over the past few years that Team Visma | Lease a Bike is truly losing ground to UAE Team Emirates - XRG. Whilst in some ways the Dutch team continues to be the only match, or rival to the Emirati team, this could stop being the case after the team has lost several significant figures into the 2026 season.

The news of Simon Yates' retirement marks one of the most significant moments of the winter, and one that will prove very detrimental to the Dutch team. Yates was signed into the 2025 season and proved to be a near-perfect transfer, of a rider in the later years of his career, making a move to experiment a new environment and understand if he could still evolve as a rider.

That proved to be the case, and Yates rode to victory at the Giro d'Italia. With Jonas Vingegaard winning the Vuelta a España - although neither win was dominant - the Dutch team won two Grand Tours in 2025, topping UAE which has won the Tour de France. Which achievement is more significant can different from person to person. Visma also won the Tour de France Femmes with Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, which in the bigger picture plays a role in the Dutch team's successful 2025 campaign. However in 2026 the teams may not be so evenly matched.

In terms of UCI points or victories, there is in fact no match. Whilst the team did win two Grand Tours, it was nowhere near the same level in the monuments or overall throughout the year. That can't come as a surprise taking into consideration that UAE has the generational figure of Tadej Pogacar who virtually wins every race he focuses on. It would be unfair for believe Visma could fully battle with UAE taking into consideration there is only one Pogacar, but the Dutch team was not on the podium of any monument in 2025, whilst Pogacar himself finished on the podium of every single one.

Into 2026 Jonas Vingegaard is likely to aim for the Giro d'Italia, but winning the Tour de France against a fresh Tadej Pogacar is an unlikely-to-succeed mission, whilst he should be absent from the Vuelta a España where Visma shouldn't have a victory contender. Hence, it is believed that there will be less equilibrium between the two.

Furthermore the transfer season doesn't exactly favour Visma either, who have lost Olav Kooij, Tiesj Benoot and Cian Uijtdebroeks, all riders who had the level to perform highly at World Tour level. Whilst their results may well prove some wrong, the nine signings of Visma into 2026 don't feature any headliner name, and only four out of the nine come from fellow World Tour structures.

UAE have lost Juan Ayuso and key domestique Rafal Majka, but ultimately it is a lesser loss. They have only signed three riders into 2026, but that reveals an image of stability as the team barely lost any riders this winter and are likely to maintain a very similar level to 2025.

The big issue for Visma is that it has, besides the transfers, just lost two riders due to unforeseen circumstances, two leaders. Yates' departure leaves the team down to 28 riders. Whilst the development team riders will often step up to the position, it showcases unfulfilled potential. The team can still sign two riders, but doing so in January is less than ideal for several reasons, not to add that at this point in time, there are few riders in the market who could make a difference in the team's overall view.

Besides Simon Yates, the team has mutually terminated its contract with cyclocross World Champion Fem van Empel. The battle between Visma and UAE Team ADQ isn't as ferocious in the women's World Tour, but it is definitely a hit to Visma's overall ability to spread its success all round, and makes the team more dependent on the success of the men's roster. Both riders have left the team within a space of three weeks, and deep into the winter where replacing them is simply not possible.

Van Empel is a three-time cyclocross World Champion and in many occasions termed the 'new Marianne Vos', a terminology that has also made its way through the discourse due to the two being teammates and originating from the same town in the Netherlands. The Dutchwoman is taking a break from cycling, and at age 23, despite being one of the absolute very best in the world, there are no certainties that she will return.

This also casts a dark shadow over the team's methods. Whilst very successful, it is without a doubt incredibly difficult for any rider and the level that is required to be part of the team leads to extremely high demands that not all can sustain. Even those at the very top of the sport, to be able to maintain their physical and mental resilience over the course of years racing at a high level, can at times not be possible. Although this is not exclusive to Visma, it opens way for other riders to also make the decision to retire suddenly, as also happened with the Dutch team back in 2022 with Tom Dumoulin.