"There's a conflict..." - Bruyneel and Martin on Visma's problems; Vingegaard's coach departure; Yates' retirement and Evenepoel rivalry

The last weeks in the world of cycling have provided plenty action on and off the bike, with Remco Evenepoel lighting up every race he is present; whilst on the opposite side Team Visma | Lease a Bike see obstacles after obstacles before their leaders even begin their season. Johan Bruyneel and Spencer Martin have shared their opinions on the matter.

"Has he added anything to the arsenal that's going to let him compete with Pogacar and Vingegaard in 2026," Spencer Martin questioned on The Move podcast regarding Remco Evenepoel. The Olympic Champion has had a stellar start to the season, which delivers some hope.

Whilst Pogacar trains towards his season start and Vingegaard delayed it due to a crash and illness, Evenepoel has been racking up wins, motivation and putting in impressive performances. His latest, at the Volta a Comunitat Valenciana, had him a step ahead of meaningfully-strong competition.

"I think this is Remco's level that we, we expected, you know, he himself said that he's not in top shape [...] He said, you know, probably 85%," Bruyneel argued. "He says he's now what his, he's on his typical weight of the spring".

"He's not lean like to the Tour yet, like he was two years ago, and he knows that he said 'I can still lose some weight for the Tour'. I think the main thing is that, you know, he came in with a bang. His team believes in him, the atmosphere in the team must be amazing. And, you know, up to the next one, which is going to be UAE tour, right?"

At the UAE Tour Evenepoel will have to battle with Isaac del Toro, who looked equally strong on stage 1 by taking the win in the uphill bunch sprint, making it a proper challenge ahead into the mountain stages.

In the opposite end, there is a Team Visma | Lease a Bike that has been very absent from the action thus far. From those who have been racing, the Tour of Oman was a good example of the team's luck thus far, with leaders Sepp Kuss and Axel Zingle forced to leave the race early on.

The men who entered 2026 in the team's lead, have not shown good signs. "Wout van Aert crashed, broke his ankle in a cyclocross race. He actually seems to be recovering well. It might not be a big issue, but maybe it won't be at full strength for the classics when he's going up against two of the best of all time. That's not great," Bruyneel added.

"Then Simon Yates, one of their key GC leaders and strongest domestiques in the mountains for grand tours retires out of the blue. That's not great. And then Jonas Vendegard crashes on a descent, hurts himself to enough that he pulls out of the UAE Tour".

The Dane's form is going to remain a complete unknown until the Volta a Catalunya, his last and now only preparation race ahead of the Giro-Tour double. Vingegaard spent a lot of time training in the Malaga area ahead of the season start but this proved to be a questionable decision at the end of the day.

"How hurt is he? We don't really know. Is he sick? What's really going on [...] And then we find out this week his coach Tim Heemskerk, he's employed by Visma | Lease a Bike, but he is the personal coach of Jonas Vingegaard, leaves the team".

"You know, he must have his personal reasons. And now at the beginning of the season, a trainer or I mean, one of the key coaches who leaves the team... That press release reads a bit strange, I would say. We don't know. I absolutely have no information what's happening or what's going on. But it's strange".

Visma are certainly having a tough time, with all of these obstacles being added to the fact that Fem van Empel ended her contract with the team in late December, and may potentially have retired from the sport. On the men's side, the situation isn't any smoother.

"There's a conflict between this coach and one of his either the head men, the general manager. Ok listen, it's not the end of the world at this point, he's there to accompany him and somebody that the cyclist, in this case, Jonas and Matteo [Jorgenson], they are accountable to".

However, it will be important to see whether the change in coaches will lead to changes in performance from Jonas Vingegaard. Bruyneel believes this isn't the case: "He's not going to tell them or teach them any more secrets. They already know what they have to do and any other coach will come in and they all obviously share information on the team".

"So it's not going to change that much. The only thing that could change is the way that the person who will now be in charge of those riders who are left behind from who are left without a coach, there's going to be a new coach. The only difference will be that the interpretation of the performances is different. That's all. They know what they have to do.

"And whatever this coach was planning for his riders is shared with the other coaches. So I don't see it as a big, big problem. You are correct that there's not".

The team has also begun its season without Simon Yates, who announced his retirement from the sport in early January, following the best season of his career. "I think, in the Yates situation, I think the team was also in the dark. I think Simon Yates was, if I'm not mistaken, he did one training camp, right?"

"And after that training camp he said 'you know what, I've now won the Vuelta, I've won the Giro, I'm never going to win the Tour. You know, I've made my career, I earned good money, that this is it. You know, I don't want to do this another year or another two years'."

It leaves the team with yet another card missing to try and battle with UAE Team Emirates - XRG, whilst the early stages of the season give signs that Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe may be more capable of taking it up to the Emirati team.

"He, he walks away from a big contract. I mean, it's like Simon Yates didn't go to Visma for peanuts. You know, he was maybe making more at Jayco, but no, he's not making peanuts. He's not making a lot less. So it must be something personal".