Visma | Lease a Bike restructuralize at the end of this season with five members of the management staff

From 1 October, Team Visma | Lease a Bike's sports management will consist of five members, each with their own areas of expertise and responsibility. Led by CEO Richard Plugge, the team will continue building on the foundations that have led to many successes in recent years.

CEO Richard Plugge says in a press release: "I am proud to have these exceptional professionals with their expertise and knowledge of the organisation's culture on board to further strengthen Team Visma | Lease a Bike in the areas of strategy, coaching, innovation, nutrition, scouting and talent development."

Grischa Niermann will be responsible for race strategy, selection, and the overall composition of the rider groups. In addition to his sports management role, Niermann will continue to attend several races as a sports director, just like he did until now.

Jacco Verhaeren, who has already been a member of the coaching group this year, will join the sports management. "I am not a (cycling) specialist , but they are looking more for a leader, capable of working with the staff, the coaches, talk about innovations...," explained the Dutchman to L'Équipe. "I don't understand much about cycling and I'm not going to improvise the strategy to adopt in the Tour de France. But I think I have the experience. training, athletes, a good performance culture."

Mathieu Heijboer, previously Head of Performance, will be responsible for innovation in nutrition, equipment and training. Heijboer will combine this role with his duties as a personal coach of several riders.

Robbert de Groot remains a driving force behind Visma's very successful Development Team, which has produced an impressive list of pros (Olav Kooij, Van Dijke twins, ...) in just few years of its existence. He will continue to be responsible for talent development in our sports management.

Patrick Broe, better known for his popular Lanterne Rouge cycling podcast, has already been associated with the team as a race analysis and strategy consultant. He will continue in this role in the sports management, bringing in talent and working with the Visma | Lease a Bike Women's World Tour team. He will also advise the commercial team with his innovative ideas.

"We have always said that we wanted to solve the unfortunate departure of Merijn Zeeman internally. That is why we have left it in the hands of our well-known specialists, who will do this in close consultation with the entire staff," Plugges concludes.