"The team is crumbling": Thomas Dekker worried Picnic PostNL could cease to exist in the near future

Even though Mathieu van der Poel is viewed as one of the two best (active) cyclists in the world, there are substantial problems suffocating the sport of cycling in the Netherlands. Race organizers already have their heads full of worries with growing problems of holding races, as the problems dont evade even the biggest of them all - Amstel Gold Race. And that's not the end. With the lack of home exposure, sponsor investments are becoming more and more scarce for the existing Dutch teams with both men's WorldTeams; Visma | Lease a Bike and Picnic PostNL losing considerable amount of ground on transfer market to rival teams.

While Visma remains a powerhouse with Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert among its ranks, Picnic is in far more significant difficulties as the UCI have only approved their WorldTour license for only one year at the end of 2025, while all the other teams secured it for the entire three-year cycle.

In addition, the Dutch team had to bid farewell to its biggest star, Oscar Onley, who single-handedly saved the team from relegation in 2025 with his 4th place at Tour de France. Former Dutch professional Thomas Dekker fears this decision will only delay the inevitable as without Onley, the team simply lacks the firepower to keep up with ProTeams on uprise, especially Pinarello Q36.5 Pro Cycling and Tudor Pro Cycling.

"They should actually say: we're going to extend, and you'll get four times two and a half million euros," Dekker suggest on the Live Slow, Ride Fast podcast. "If you want to continue competing at the highest level, you have to, but of course, the money isn't there."

But could team manager Iwan Spekenbrink say 'no' to INEOS Grenadiers willing to pay a fee reported to be a little under six million euros to buy out Onley's contract? "They had no other choice," says Dekker. "You can't hold that guy to his contract when he can earn three million euros there, Team Picnic PostNL is severely short of funds, and they haven't secured any support for him in the high mountains."

The transfer is therefore a logical consequence, according to Dekker. "The team is crumbling, and we have to ask ourselves if it will still exist in the future. There's a serious budget deficit. They only received approval from the UCI for one year for a reason. After that, things will evolve again."

Dekker claims to have inside information about the state of Team Picnic PostNL. "I recently spoke with an early Picnic investor. He told me that Picnic and PostNL are both title sponsors for next to nothing (compared to other WorldTour sponsors)."

Based on CyclingUpToDate information, the sum investment of Picnic and PostNL would be close to €10-12 million/year while the entire budget of the team is roughly €18 million/year, perhaps the smallest budget across the entire WorldTour. Then it's not hard to see how important for the team it is to acquire further €6 million injection to its budget through the buy-out clause of Oscar Onley, even though the damage to competitive strength of the team is anything but collateral.