"The kid who got angry and started throwing things" - Ex-pro critical of Visma's latest signing

Most of the time, it's not hard to find the reasoning behind transfers at Visma | Lease a Bike. But their new recruit from October until 2027 - Anton Schiffer - is a different story. The German started with road cycling as a former triathlete, gained some recognition through Zwift Academy, but continued to race at a continental level until the moment Visma chose to take a chance on him. And so the German will make his professional debut at the age of 26. His results show a promising climber, but there are more layers to Schiffer...

"Anton Schiffer to Visma | Lease a Bike. That's absolutely killing me, figuratively speaking, I'm sitting here without any pants..." Ramon Sinkeldam begins his account on cycling platform Beyond The KOM.

He then reveals that Schiffer is the - then still anonymous - rider he'd previously spilled the beans about to his podcast buddy Lars van den Berg. "I told you about that clown who was participating... no, wait, I have to put it differently. I told you about that kid who was participating in the Zwift Academy, with Alpecin-Deceuninck. About that kid who got so angry..."

Van den Berg recognizes the story and adds: "Oh yeah, the one who was throwing those things. That's him?" Sinkeldam nods. The Dutchman struggles to understand why Visma went the extra mile to sign such a "problematic kid": "I don't get it. What did I miss in this whole story?!"

Zwift is a popular e-cycling platform where, in partnership with Alpecin-Deceuninck, the Zwift Academy takes place every year with the winner promised a contract at the Belgian team (or its development team). Previous winners include now-seasoned pros Jay Vine or Luca Vergallito.

Sinkeldam talks about how Alpecin-Deceuninck boss Christoph Roodhooft lashed out at the angry Schiffer during the Zwift Academy test period. "He said: listen, buddy, you've got the little hill on the Coll des Rates, for Pogacar. The little hill on one of the most famous climbs in Spain. You've been riding here for years at Conti level. Apparently, you can cycle really fast. Just tell me? What's wrong with us rejecting you now?", Sinkeldam paraphrases.

Sinkeldam also says that Schiffer was completely unapproachable to him, both at that point during the Zwift Academy and later. "I tried to talk to him. He said nothing. Zero interest in us. If you're applying for a job at another company, you're at least supposed to be nice to the employees, right? I tried to talk to him... nothing came of it."

"He really didn't want to know anything about us. Then he was sent away. After that, I saw him in races a few more times, including at the Tour of Turkey. He doesn't say anything again, does he? Then I thought: lick my ass, I'm not going to talk to you either," Sinkeldam concluded.