“Interviews showed we were close to cracking him”; Visma | LaB take hope from Pogacar’s Tour comments

Where signings made ahead of 2025 — including Simon Yates, Victor Campenaerts and Axel Zingle — 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.

With Olav Kooij, Tiesj Benoot, 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 Barré, Davide Piganzoli, Timo Kielich, Anton Schiffer, plus the more experienced Bruno Armirail and Filippo Fiorelli.

“We’ve lost Olav, Tiesj and the others, but we’ve also committed to long contracts with Matteo and Matthew. They haven’t become any cheaper,” Niermann explains. “Other teams have more budget, but on the other hand I don’t think our philosophy is significantly different from other years. We look for riders who can develop.”

It is a conscious approach. “That’s 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’ve once again brought in a few riders who can take big steps. That’s how we’ve worked and how we’ll keep working.”

“Take someone like Filippo Fiorelli, who rode for years in a smaller team. He’s been flying under the radar for a while — even for me,” Niermann laughs. “But fortunately others point that out to me too.” He says he can always rely on Head of Strategy Patrick Broe, someone who watches every race and analyses everything in detail.

“The same goes for Davide Piganzoli, who was third in the Giro dell’Emilia in 2024. I thought: wait, how did I miss that?” says Niermann of the young Italian, who also finished third in the Tour de l’Avenir in 2023. “Those are riders we believe in — riders who can take a big step in our team.”

“With someone like Bruno Armirail it’s 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’t be a multiple winner, but he will be someone very valuable.” Armirail can also prepare for the Tour de France. “Tiesj is difficult to replace, but we believe we’ve managed it pretty well this way.”

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

“Our ambition is to win the biggest races, and the Monuments are definitely part of that,” Niermann says. “For Wout, adding Strade Bianche and Milan–Sanremo gives new motivation, but we have also made choices. Take Matteo Jorgenson — ideally you’d 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.”

“We have Matthew, Wout, Christophe, and now also Axel Zingle — a lot of fast guys. The Spring Classics are often decided in sprints,” Niermann analyses. “Wout is still our spearhead, and I think the combination with Matthew is a good one. We have big ambitions with Matthew, but it doesn’t have to happen in 2026 when it comes to the Monuments.” In other words, he is keen to ease the pressure on the young talent.

The team also feel strong in depth. “Timo Kielich will play a big role, and behind that we still have a pool of riders. That includes Axel Zingle, Owaïn 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’ll send the best seven to the Monuments.”

After the Spring — which ends for the team at Liège–Bastogne–Liège — the focus will quickly shift to the Giro and the Tour, with Jonas Vingegaard set to be the key leader for both. “We 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.”

It is an approach Vingegaard has said he felt ready for. “There are variables, because it can also rain in the Giro. And then you can’t say: we’d rather you stayed inside,” Niermann explains, fully aligned with the plan. “Tadej proved two years ago that it’s possible, and we are convinced Jonas can do it too. We don’t have a guarantee, but we do have the data from his Tour/Vuelta combinations — and that makes us believe.”

That Giro programme could therefore help swing the Tour back in Visma’s direction. “Last year his interviews afterwards showed we were well on the way to cracking Tadej,” Niermann says, referring to Pogacar’s comments about being mentally fatigued. “In the end it didn’t happen, but we’re already busy coming up with a strategy for this year.”

“We 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’s what we get up for every morning,” the ambitious German insists. “We were doing well, but ultimately not good enough. Now there’s 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’m not going to say anything about that yet.”