“The first thing I asked was to get a Welsh flag on my helmet” – Visma’s new Olympic-winning British workhorse ready to give everything for the team

The first request Owain Doull made when he arrived at Team Visma | Lease a Bike had nothing to do with equipment, training camps or race schedules.

“The first thing I asked was to get a Welsh flag on my helmet,” he said in Visma’s official press release introducing him to the team.

It was a small detail, but it said a lot. About identity. About pride. And about a rider who knows exactly who he is when he shows up to work.

For the full overview of how Doull’s role fits into Visma’s wider 2026 structure alongside Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson and the rest of the squad, see our main hub: Visma confirm full 2026 plans of Van Aert, Vingegaard, Jorgenson and more.

Doull’s career will always be tied to one moment. In August 2016, at just 23, he stood on the top step of the Olympic podium in Rio after winning gold in the team pursuit with Team GB.

“Winning the Olympics was the biggest moment of my career,” he said. But that moment also marked a turning point. “I was also hit by the ‘Olympic blues’ afterwards. The first year out of the Olympic cycle was very hard, and I felt a bit lost.”

Track racing had been his world. The road became his future. Making that transition was not easy. “Making the jump to the WorldTour and leaving track racing behind was a big step, and I struggled early on with finding the right focus again.”

Over time, though, he found his place not as a headline act, but as something just as valuable.

Doull’s road career has been built on reliability. After joining Team Sky and later racing at WorldTour level for several seasons, he became known less for chasing his own results and more for shaping races for others.

He did have moments of his own, including a second place at Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne in 2019, but what stuck was something else. “I’m fairly well rounded, so I can help out in most types of races except the high mountains,” he said. “I really get a big high out of helping my captains, and I feel that’s where I have the most value.”

That mindset has defined his career. “Before a race, I always think to myself: ‘Where can I contribute the most?’”

It is not the language of a rider chasing personal glory. It is the language of someone who has decided what success looks like for him.

If there is one part of the season that feels personal to Doull, it is spring. “My favourite race is the Tour of Flanders. There is no other race like that,” he said. “When we get to Oude Kwaremont, the vibe is so unique. I’m so nervous and so excited every time.”

Years of racing the Flemish classics turned him into the type of rider teams rely on when roads are narrow, legs are heavy and leaders need shelter.

That experience is exactly why Visma wanted him.

Doull arrives in yellow and black with more than a decade of elite racing behind him, including Grand Tours, cobbled classics and the biggest stage of all.

What drew him in was not just the results. “Racing with guys like Jonas, Wout, Matteo, Matthew is really inspiring to me,” he said. “It’s such an ambitious group of riders, and I’m really looking forward to getting started.”

More than ambition, though, it was mindset. “I also think the mindset here fits me really well. The core of my love for the sport is trying to get better every day. That’s what gets me out of bed. That constant desire for improvement.”

That line could have been written as a job description for a Visma domestique.

Doull does not hide where he comes from. “I speak fluent Welsh, and I’m very proud of my Welsh heritage,” he said. That is why the helmet mattered. It was not decoration. It was representation.

From a velodrome in Cardiff to Olympic gold in Rio, from Team Sky to the Flemish roads, his career has been long, varied and often under the radar. Now he arrives at Visma not to reinvent himself, but to do what he has chosen to do best. Help.

He will not be measured by wins. He will be measured by how well leaders are placed, how calm finales become, and how often others cross the line knowing he has already done his job.

In 2026, Owain Doull will not be chasing headlines. He will be building them for someone else, with a Welsh flag on his helmet and a very clear idea of what his value is.