Visma-Lease a Bike have confirmed the changes to their performance management structure, with head of racing Grischa Niermann set to depart the team, and directeur sportif Marc Reef stepping up to replace him.
Team CEO Richard Plugge said he was “surprised” when Niermann told him he would be leaving the team two weeks ago, and that he was “sad and disappointed” to see his friend go after winning 10 Grand Tours together over the years.
“I think like most of you are now, I was surprised when Grischa called me a couple of weeks ago to share his decision to leave,” said Plugge during his opening remarks.
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“I’m very sad that Grisha is now leaving. He just started in his new role, and he was developing more and more. I’m disappointed to see him leave, because as a person and as a great sports director, I have a lot of respect for him, and together we achieved exceptional success, including multiple Grand Tour victories, and most recently our victory in Paris-Roubaix, which was the pinnacle, maybe, of what we tried to achieve.
“I’m very happy to have worked with Grischa, and I wish him all the best. He’s close to my heart, and it’s a friend, but he wants to move on, and I respect that choice.”
Speaking at a press conference on Tuesday, Plugge and Reef announced the changes that were first reported on Monday evening. Importantly, though, Niermann’s exit from Visma-Lease a Bike is not immediate, and he is due to stay on in a background role until August 31.
“No, he did not leave [yet]. He will be staying until the 31st of August with us to support in the background,” confirmed Plugge.
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“He’s mainly doing some races, not the Dauphine and Tour de France, but others like the Tour de Suisse, and he will stay in the background to support Marc and the rest and hand over everything.”
New head of racing Marc Reef ‘jumping on a moving train’
Having just guided Jonas Vingegaard to victory at the Giro d’Italia, Reef will take the lead sports management role at the upcoming Tour Auvergne-Rhône Alpes and Tour de France, with 100% confidence from Plugge that he is ready, before stepping fully into his new role on September 1.
“Maybe the momentum is not as planned, but that’s how things go in high-performance environments. You also have to always be prepared. I’m 100% convinced that Marc is ready for the job,” said the team boss.
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“Since he jumps on a moving train. He will have the time to focus on the preparations for the Tour de France in the coming weeks and the race itself. Marc just won his fourth Grand Tour as the leading coach…
“This situation also opens up opportunities to maybe become even stronger, to maybe do things a little bit differently. I’m convinced we will build further on our success.”
Plugge refused to comment on where Niermann would go next, stressing that the German only called him to say he wanted to leave to try something different.
Marc Reef is stepping up at Visma-Lease a Bike (Image credit: Getty Images)
Reports from Wielerflits and Daniel Benson on Monday stated that he would be heading to Lidl-Trek, but him staying on in the background until the end of August means that any switchover won’t happen before the Tour de France.
“Grisha told me he will be leaving the team, and you know, I don’t dive into other teams or whatever. He told me that he was leaving, and where he’s going, that’s up to him to tell you,” said Plugge, revealing that he tried to convince the German to stay but to no avail.
“It was a couple of weeks ago that he called me. I asked him, ‘Is there something I can do to keep you?’, but he said no, because he thought about it, of course, really well, and he wanted to make this choice.
“It was a personal choice, so that’s what I can say about it. He told me that he wants to do something different; he will get the opportunity to tell you his reasons, and I think it’s better that he tells it himself.”
‘I’m very confident that Jonas is becoming better, and looking forward to this collaboration with Marc’
Plugge also spoke for his team leader, Vingegaard, saying how the Dane wasn’t focusing on the negative that is Niermann leaving, instead with eyes on the future with Reef, who he has just collaborated for three weeks during a dominant Giro victory.
“Jonas was, in the first instance, of course, probably surprised, but then, because he just won the Giro with Marc Reef sitting there behind him, so he also saw the opportunity, maybe to do it even better,” said Plugge.
“No, it will not hurt us or his preparation. I’m very confident that Jonas is becoming better, and looking forward to this collaboration with Marc. He showed big progress in his numbers in the past months, and he also feels there’s still progress to be made for the coming weeks to be ready for the start in Barcelona.”
Reef has been part of Visma since 2022, but has lengthy experience as a DS from his time at DSM before joining. Plugge stressed how the team had prepared for things like this, aware that making your structure future-proof to an extent is the key to not falling behind.
After all, Niermann only stepped into his role as head of racing at the end of 2024, after the departure of Grand Tour mastermind Merijn Zeeman. The team have remained successful since then, winning the Giro twice, the Vuelta, and Paris-Roubaix with Wout van Aert in April.
“If you are the leading team, and you’re doing well already for so long, then you know that people are looking at your team,” said the team boss on Tuesday.
“It’s not only in cycling, but it’s also everywhere that people are trying to copy you, so I’m always aware of these threats, and again, that’s why we built this strong culture 10 years ago; a structure where we have successors in place, or try to develop successors ASAP to make our team anti-fragile for these kinds of events to happen. I’m not looking forward to it, but I’m always prepared that things like this will happen.”