“The best example is Jonas Vingegaard’s famous time trial in 2023” - Visma coach pushes back against narrative modern cycling is all about numbers and data
Cycling
Modern cycling is often framed as a sport ruled by numbers, where power meters dictate decisions and riders are reduced to outputs and thresholds. For Mathieu Heijboer, that picture misses something fundamental.
The Team Visma | Lease a Bike coach, who works closely with both Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard, insists that while data is essential, it cannot be allowed to define how riders perform in decisive moments.
“You’re not working with robots, you’re working with people,” he said on the In de Waaier podcast. “Based on a lot of historical data, you can assume that a rider can produce 350 watts for 20 minutes. But you hope that one day it’s 360 watts.”
That tension between expectation and possibility sits at the core of Visma’s approach. Data builds the framework, but it is the rider’s ability to interpret how they feel in the moment that ultimately determines the outcome.
Vingegaard’s Tour defining ride
“The best example is Jonas’s famous time trial in 2023,” Heijboer explained. “He decided the Tour that day. He looked at his power meter once and thought: this isn’t right, I’m going far too hard. But he felt good and just kept going. That comes from the guidance we give, where we say: ride the time trial on feel, but still think.”
That moment came on stage 16 of the 2023 Tour de France, a 22.4km test from Passy to Combloux that reshaped the race. Vingegaard began the day with just 10 seconds in hand over Tadej Pogacar, but ended it 1 minute and 38 seconds faster than his rival, turning a tight general classification battle into a decisive advantage.
The scale of the ride went beyond the final margin. Vingegaard was fastest at every intermediate check, not just on the closing climb, delivering a complete performance across technical sections, descents and the steep rise to Combloux. Pogacar still finished comfortably ahead of the rest of the field, which only reinforced how exceptional the gap between the two had been.
Heijboer’s point is not that the numbers were wrong. It is that Vingegaard’s willingness to trust how he felt, even when it appeared to contradict the data, allowed him to fully exploit a rare day where his level exceeded expectation.
More than just the numbers
That philosophy extends beyond a single race. Heijboer is clear that locking a rider into one predicted output carries its own risks. “Then I know it will either be disappointing, or he won’t get the maximum out of himself,” he said. “We also coach riders to go by feel. They even train without a power meter. You go into those training blocks based on a feeling, and then you learn what corresponds to that.”
For a team often associated with marginal gains and meticulous preparation, the emphasis on instinct may seem counterintuitive. In reality, it reflects a more complete approach. Data is used to inform decisions, guide training and refine performance over time, but not to restrict what a rider can do in the moment. “We only use the data as a background tool to learn from and to do things better in the future,” Heijboer added.
The broader narrative that modern cycling has become a sport defined purely by numbers is an easy one to tell. Vingegaard’s time trial in 2023 offers a more complicated answer. It was a performance built on preparation and precision, but ultimately decided by a rider willing to push beyond what the numbers suggested was possible.
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.
claps 4visitors 4
Just in
Popular news
Latest comments
- What kind of sauce is on that rice? Ketchup?Kbd05-11-2026
- 18 broken bones. 78 crashes, among 30 rider per year is a lot. so for a rider over 15 seasons, they will break their bones 7-8 times and crash 38 times.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- i dont think he is ready ot win against the top 2 or the 2nd rung of evenepoel, del toro , Almeida. In the third week in the TDF he was very very defensive, no attacks. i think he was exhausted. right now he needs time not the brutal Giro or the intense TDF.abstractengineer04-11-2026
- Rota is an excellent rider to get in a break with because he always does his turnchapmanesque04-11-2026
- That 3000 extra that the Tour de France is built up in the flat stages
Rafionain-Glas04-11-2026 - maybe this is something else they can protest in the streets of France.mij04-11-2026
- his Roubaix win was amazing. not to take anything away from him - arguably one of MVDP's wins was at the expense of a WVA flat - but so many things need to line up to get one of these. He had a perfect race with fewer bike issues on an attritional course. And crazy strong as usual. Glad he got this done.mij04-11-2026
- Orts was a super smart signing with the new rules regarding cross and UCI pointsmij04-11-2026
- yeah... you're right...PogiSloFans04-11-2026
- Podcast sounds great. Two so called experts stating the f*cking obvious.wrsty04-11-2026
Loading
Write a comment