"They should just put the whole team on the bus and drive straight home" - Team Picnic PostNL's absence from Tour de France action brings criticism
CyclingSaturday, 18 July 2026 at 15:13
Team Picnic PostNL is having a brutal 2026 season and its World Tour license is very much at risk, despite being the first of the three-year cycle. The Dutch team has been very much absent from the action in the World Tour and at the Tour de France. But its latest decision, withdrawing one of its riders, has brought in further criticism.
Latest decision drives Stef Clement crazy
The team had already previously gathered criticism for the decision of taking Frank van de Broek to the Giro d'Italia following an illness, a full spring schedule and a lack of altitude training. The Dutch rider, a leader, raced the Giro without results and is currently in the same role at the Tour de France.
The team was built around the sprinter Pavel Bittner, who himself only recently recovered from injury, and has only finished in the Top10 once during the ongoing Tour - which will have no more pan-flat sprint stages.
But the decision to withdraw Frits Biesterbos before the start of the 13th stage was the last drop for one pundit.
"It is simply insane. They should just put the whole team on the bus and drive straight home," former pro Stef Clement said on De Avondetappe. "This is the absolute highest level". Such a decision being made at the Tour de France, with the team desperate to net any result, is not something Clement understands.
"This is what you live off as a team, where you get all your publicity from. If you then pull a healthy young man out of that race to ride a good race in August... Then you have gone completely overboard with the measuring and knowing."
"The team is having a terrible Tour de France, a terrible season. You can have all sorts of reasons for that, but surely you don't pull an athlete out of the biggest annual sporting event? That is the same as letting a footballer play three group matches, but taking him out in the knockout stage because he still has to play another season with his club."
Picnic PostNL fully backed up Pavel Bittner, but the team hasn't delivered at the Tour de France
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The absence of the Dutch team from breakaways has also been notable and with the exception of Bittner, no other rider has been at the forefront during this Tour. This includes van den Broek - who has also spent time working at the head of the peloton in sprint stages - and local hero Warren Barguil.
Clement, a former long-standing member of the Visma structure, has ridden 18 Grand Tours in his career. He argues that besides the necessity for results, completing one is important for the riders' own careers and experience.
"Being able to say that you have finished the Tour de France is so much more important than performing later in the autumn. It is also about dedication to one another. There has to be a very good argument to pull him out, and I just don't hear one. It's not like he's nineteen".
"What a sorry state of affairs in the squad. You can choose from 25 riders. You take eight, and then you know: we're going to send one of them home during the Tour. What does that say about the riders who weren't selected? That they can't do anything at all? Then you have sunk very low as a team".
Rúben SilvaEditor-in-Chief
A founding contributor to CyclingUpToDate since its launch in January 2022, Ruben Silva has played a central role in shaping the site’s editorial direction and long-term growth. Before joining the project, he built his experience through independent blogging at Echelons Hub and by producing race previews for Ciclismo Internacional, developing a strong analytical voice rooted in daily engagement with professional cycling.
Beyond editorial work, he has been closely involved in the expansion and coordination of CyclingUpToDate’s wider network, helping establish and support sister platforms across multiple languages. This includes ongoing collaboration with CiclismoAlDia (Spanish), CiclismoAtual (Portuguese), WielrennenUpToDate (Dutch), and RadsportAktuell (German), contributing to a shared editorial vision and consistent international coverage.
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Originally from the Porto metropolitan area in Portugal, he holds a bachelor’s degree in Geography. His path into cycling journalism was shaped not through formal media training, but through independent reporting, community engagement, and sustained on-the-ground involvement in the sport.
Over the course of his career, he has conducted approximately 100 interviews across road cycling and cyclocross, ranging from one-to-one conversations and online formats to press conferences and on-site pre- and post-race coverage. His interviews include leading riders, team managers, and prominent figures within cycling media: Tadej Pogacar, Jonas Vingegaard, Mathieu van der Poel, Primoz Roglic, Wout van Aert, Joao Almeida and Tom Pidcock; managers like Patrick Lefevere and Joxean Matxin; and YouTube personality Bryan Kennedy (BKXC)...
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