{"id":415301,"date":"2026-02-08T22:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/415301\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T22:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T22:38:11","slug":"interviews-showed-we-were-close-to-cracking-him-visma","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/415301\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cInterviews showed we were close to cracking him\u201d; Visma"},"content":{"rendered":"

For many riders, the new season is starting to gather pace \u2014 and that automatically applies to sports directors too. Grischa Niermann<\/a> has now completed his first full transfer window and will begin his season in the team car at the Tour of Oman. The Head of Racing at Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a> spoke at length ahead of the new year, including with IDLProcycling.com, about recruitment, ambitions, and their ongoing battle with Tadej Pogacar<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Where signings made ahead of 2025 \u2014 including Simon Yates, Victor Campenaerts and Axel Zingle \u2014 still carried the stamp of Merijn Zeeman, this winter Niermann was the man making the final calls. That ultimately led to nine incoming riders, matched by nine departures.<\/p>\n

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\"grischa<\/p>\n

Grischa Niermann, Head of Racing at Visma | Lease a Bike.<\/p>\n

Visma | Lease a Bike stick to their philosophyWith Olav Kooij<\/a>, Tiesj Benoot<\/a>, Dylan van Baarle, Cian Uijtdebroeks, Attila Valter and eventually Simon Yates moving on, there were plenty of recognisable names leaving the Dutch squad. In return came nine riders the team believe still have significant upside: including Louis Barr\u00e9, Davide Piganzoli, Timo Kielich, Anton Schiffer, plus the more experienced Bruno Armirail<\/a> and Filippo Fiorelli.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve lost Olav, Tiesj and the others, but we\u2019ve also committed to long contracts with Matteo and Matthew. They haven\u2019t become any cheaper,\u201d Niermann explains. \u201cOther teams have more budget, but on the other hand I don\u2019t think our philosophy is significantly different from other years. We look for riders who can develop.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is a conscious approach. \u201cThat\u2019s how we brought in Jonas and Sepp (Vingegaard and Kuss) in the past, but Matteo, Wout and Christophe (Jorgenson, Van Aert and Laporte) were not superstars when we signed them either. There are no guarantees, but I think we\u2019ve once again brought in a few riders who can take big steps. That\u2019s how we\u2019ve worked and how we\u2019ll keep working.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\"131784_a99af5d7c4bde01f63f368c6e0477b6d\"\/<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard entered Visma | Lease a Bike as a relatively unknown rider.<\/p>\n

Niermann on the incoming transfers<\/p>\n

\u201cTake someone like Filippo Fiorelli, who rode for years in a smaller team. He\u2019s been flying under the radar for a while \u2014 even for me,\u201d Niermann laughs. \u201cBut fortunately others point that out to me too.\u201d He says he can always rely on Head of Strategy Patrick Broe, someone who watches every race and analyses everything in detail.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe same goes for Davide Piganzoli, who was third in the Giro dell\u2019Emilia in 2024. I thought: wait, how did I miss that?\u201d says Niermann of the young Italian, who also finished third in the Tour de l\u2019Avenir in 2023. \u201cThose are riders we believe in \u2014 riders who can take a big step in our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWith someone like Bruno Armirail<\/a> it\u2019s a different story. He has a lot of experience, a big engine, and comes from a top team. He can solve a lot of problems for us. He won\u2019t be a multiple winner, but he will be someone very valuable.\u201d Armirail can also prepare for the Tour de France<\/a>. \u201cTiesj is difficult to replace, but we believe we\u2019ve managed it pretty well this way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"bruno-armirail\"\/<\/p>\n

Bruno Armirail: A deliberate purchase by Visma.<\/p>\n

Visma | Lease a Bike ambitious for 2026Visma | Lease a Bike<\/a> have set themselves goals <\/a>for 2026: they want to win the Giro d\u2019Italia and the Tour de France<\/a>, take at least one Monument, and reach a minimum of 41 victories. Last year the team finished on 40 wins \u2014 with Kooij contributing 11 of those. (Their 2026 targets were published by the team on their own channels.)<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ambition is to win the biggest races, and the Monuments are definitely part of that,\u201d Niermann says. \u201cFor Wout, adding Strade Bianche and Milan\u2013Sanremo gives new motivation, but we have also made choices. Take Matteo Jorgenson \u2014 ideally you\u2019d want him in every race. We chose a risky strategy by not sending him to Flanders, so he can be at his best in the Ardennes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have Matthew, Wout, Christophe, and now also Axel Zingle \u2014 a lot of fast guys. The Spring Classics are often decided in sprints,\u201d Niermann analyses. \u201cWout is still our spearhead, and I think the combination with Matthew is a good one. We have big ambitions with Matthew, but it doesn\u2019t have to happen in 2026 when it comes to the Monuments.\u201d In other words, he is keen to ease the pressure on the young talent.<\/p>\n

The team also feel strong in depth. \u201cTimo Kielich will play a big role, and behind that we still have a pool of riders. That includes Axel Zingle, Owa\u00efn Doull, Edoardo Affini and Filippo Fiorelli, but certainly also younger riders like Per Strand Hagenes and Niklas Behrens. They still have to prove themselves, but we believe in their strength. In that pool there are ten names, and we\u2019ll send the best seven to the Monuments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"matthew-brennan-wout-van-aert\"\/<\/p>\n

Matthew Brennan and Wout van Aert: the men for spring.<\/p>\n

Niermann: \u201cWe believe Vingegaard can be better in the Tour than in the Giro\u201d<\/p>\n

After the Spring \u2014 which ends for the team at Li\u00e8ge\u2013Bastogne\u2013Li\u00e8ge \u2014 the focus will quickly shift to the Giro and the Tour, with Jonas Vingegaard set to be the key leader for both. \u201cWe also definitely believe he can be better in the Tour than in the Giro. Our approach over the last five years has worked, because he has finished on the podium every year, but this is also a new approach.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is an approach Vingegaard has said he felt ready for. \u201cThere are variables, because it can also rain in the Giro. And then you can\u2019t say: we\u2019d rather you stayed inside,\u201d Niermann explains, fully aligned with the plan. \u201cTadej proved two years ago that it\u2019s possible, and we are convinced Jonas can do it too. We don\u2019t have a guarantee, but we do have the data from his Tour\/Vuelta combinations \u2014 and that makes us believe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Continue reading below the photo!<\/p>\n

\"vingegaard-pogacar\"\/<\/p>\n

Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar: rivals for the 2026 Tour.<\/p>\n

Visma | LaB take hope from Vingegaard\u2019s comments<\/p>\n

That Giro programme could therefore help swing the Tour back in Visma\u2019s direction. \u201cLast year his interviews afterwards showed we were well on the way to cracking Tadej,\u201d Niermann says, referring to Pogacar\u2019s comments about being mentally fatigued. \u201cIn the end it didn\u2019t happen, but we\u2019re already busy coming up with a strategy for this year.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe keep aiming to win the Tour, the biggest race in the world. Beating Tadej in the Tour is the highest thing we can achieve, and that\u2019s what we get up for every morning,\u201d the ambitious German insists. \u201cWe were doing well, but ultimately not good enough. Now there\u2019s a different route again, and we have to approach it differently. We already have an idea, but we still have to fine-tune it. And I\u2019m not going to say anything about that yet.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For many riders, the new season is starting to gather pace \u2014 and that automatically applies to sports…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415302,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[142540,4985,20995,119780,109589,118774,123272,101,8782,117519,6549,56,54,55,45702,8783],"class_list":{"0":"post-415301","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-bruno-armirail","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-giro-ditalia","11":"tag-grischa-niermann","12":"tag-idl-productions","13":"tag-matthew-brennan","14":"tag-olav-kooij","15":"tag-sports","16":"tag-tadej-pogacar","17":"tag-tiesj-benoot","18":"tag-tour-de-france","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-unitedkingdom","22":"tag-visma-lease-a-bike","23":"tag-wout-van-aert"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415301","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415301"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415301\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415302"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415301"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415301"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415301"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}