Visma-Lease a Bike have announced that Nathan Van Hooydonck has been promoted to a new role as sporting director.
The Belgian raced for the team during his final three years as a professional and has worked behind the scenes in a commercial role since being forced into retirement with heart problems in 2023.
Van Hooydonck, whose last race came at the 2023 Tour of Britain, initially transitioned to work as a VIP guest guide during major races throughout the season. In October 2024, he took up the commercial role, and now, he steps up to a position as leader of Visma’s Sport Management Team (SMT).
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“Nathan is still young, but incredibly eager to learn and someone who feels completely connected to this team and to what we want to achieve together,” said Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge.
“He not only knows our culture, he acts according to it and embodies it. For years, I have also seen how determined he is to win and how much it means to him when we do not. As a former rider, he also has the credibility to have an opinion on the sport and to express it.
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“Through his experience within the Business Team, he has quickly learned to look beyond the sporting side of things and to see the connection with the rest of our organisation.
“That gives us confidence that he will do a very good job in this role. And he certainly will not be doing it alone. With people such as Mathieu Heijboer, who has been and will continue to be an important part of our organisation, Nathan can draw on a great deal of knowledge and experience.”
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Visma say that Van Hooydonck will take responsibility for “defining and overseeing the team’s key sporting objectives.” Van Hooydonck, who turns 31 next week, will also “safeguard the long-term vision, values and culture” of the team.
Van Hooydonck joins Plugge, Marc Reef, Mathieu Heijboer, Robbert de Groot, and Patrick Broe on Visma’s SMT. As part of the setup, he’ll be partly responsible for ensuring the squad can continue to challenge and beat bigger budget squads, including UAE Team Emirates-XRG.
He said that his time spent on the commercial side of Visma allowed him to see the team “from a different perspective.”
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“It has helped me to better understand the organisation and experience how all the different parts are connected. Richard has also played a huge role in my development and in giving me the opportunity I now have to take on this role within the team,” said Van Hooydonck.
“Ultimately, for me, it comes down to one thing: winning. To achieve that, we need to move in the same direction as an organisation every single day. That means being willing to challenge each other, to push each other and, at the same time, to make sure everyone feels involved in what we are trying to achieve together. I am really looking forward to contributing to that from this role.”
Van Hooydonck isn’t the first change at Visma for the 2027 season. So far, the men’s team has brought on board neo-pro Matisse Van Kerckhove and Mark Donovan (Pinarello-Q36.5), while the women’s squad will welcome Femke Markus (SD Worx-Protime) and Maike van der Duijn (Canyon-SRAM).
On the staff side, head of the sport management team Jacco Verhaeren is on the outgoing list, with the team having announced his departure “decided in consultation with the team” back in September. After the surprise departure of head of racing Grischa Niermann, announced back in June, Reef stepped up into that role on September 1 and will carry that into 2027.
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