Three months after his abrupt Visma exit, Vingegaard's ex coach joins a major rival with immediate effect

A striking piece of news: Tim Heemskerk, who departed abruptly from Visma | Lease a Bike in early February, has joined the staff of Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe with immediate effect. After years as Jonas Vingegaard's personal coach, The Dutchman will take on a number of WorldTour riders at the German squad, the team confirmed.

Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe issued a press release on Wednesday. "Tim will take on the training management of a number of WorldTour riders under the leadership of head coach John Wakefield. The continued development of the coaching group reflects the team's commitment to creating one of the leading high-performance environments in professional cycling."

Zak Dempster, Chief of Sports at Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, also had his say: "We're delighted to welcome Tim to our coaching team. He brings valuable experience from working with Grand Tour riders and will be a strong addition to our existing performance staff." Earlier, Marc Lamberts — the coach of Wout van Aert, among others — had also made the same move from what was then Jumbo-Visma to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. "We continue to build a coaching environment with deep experience, diverse perspectives and a strong culture of collaboration — and Tim is a perfect fit," Dempster added.

Heemskerk left Visma | Lease a Bike suddenly in early February. "I have noticed recently that I was struggling to keep applying my creativity and passion — which are important to me in my work as a coach," he said at the time, in a press release published by the Dutch team at the moment of his departure.

"That was the moment for me to be honest with myself and with the team. I look back with pride on the growth of the team, of myself and of the riders — including, of course, Jonas. In the coming period I will take some time for myself and think about my future," he added then. Three months on, that future has now become clear.

There is a chance that Remco Evenepoel could benefit from Heemskerk's approach — though this has not yet been confirmed. Dan Lorang, currently Evenepoel's coach, recently announced that he will be stepping back from his role at the team at the end of July.