Johan Bruyneel adds a damning prediction to the struggling Picnic PostNL saga: 'Who wants to be associated with this now?'

Bruyneel is damning about the future of Picnic PostNL. “I think this may mean the end of this team. Which sponsor wants to be associated with this now?” Begins Bruyneel, on The Move podcast.

“The Dutch cycling federation is going to start an investigation, the team has said ‘we are completely surprised by this, we are going to start our own internal investigation’. Whatever that doesn't mean anything, but there's going to be a consequence to this. It doesn't look good.”

Bruyneel goes on to sum up the bleak situation at the Dutch WorldTour outfit: “Sporting wise, I think they're in a really bad position.

Financially, it's not good. If you lose 20 million over the last 3 years, that's not a great situation to be in. And now this extra report, which is very very negative, doesn't look good for the team.”

Bruyneel and his co-host Spencer Martin discussed the worrying situation surrounding Picnic PostNL’s WorldTour licence: “They're the only world tour team without a license for the next two years, " Martin chips in.

As it stands, PicnicPostNL missed the UCI’s deadline to extend their current racing licence. “Let's say they have a three-year license. One of the moves would be to sell the WorldTour license to [say] George Hincapie,” Martin hypothesised. “But they can't do that because they don't have a world tour license next year.”

“They're 30th in the rankings, which means if they do lose their license they're actually in danger of falling outside the top 30 and would be ineligible to race in Grand Tours. Who’s going to give them a wild card invite if they do lose their WorldTour license?” asks Martin.

Bruyneel retold a story about how Picnic PostNL management and staff reacted angrily to the initial media investigation. After a frosty start to the process, Picnic finally gave the journalists access to their headquarters.

“When they got there they got told that they couldn't film. All of a sudden without them realising there was a circle of 25 staff members around them, trying to intimidate them, saying ‘shame on you’”, recounts Bruyneel.

Further to this, the wife of one of the team managers was trying to grab a journalists’ phone out of his pocket for fear that they were recording the confrontation. “I think it’s pretty paranoid behaviour,” concludes Bruyneel.

To give an example of how bad things had become at the struggling Dutch team, Bruyneel gave a relatable example for most cycling fans:

“You know a rider is not allowed to change his seat height? I mean, is there anybody else who can know if it feels too low or too high than a rider? You just can't. It's like, you know, it's like you're telling a rider, you know, you can't change your cleat position.”

“I would ask the team, how do you know that the position you've given them is the correct one? How can you be sure? Because apparently their theory is, ‘we have invested so much money in biomechanics studies. This is the best position for you. You're not changing it,’” added Bruyneel.

The Belgian former pro finds this example telling of the problems at Picnic PostNL: “A biomechanical study is not always the ideal picture. You have the same thing with the position in a wind tunnel. The fastest position in a wind tunnel is not always the ideal position on the road. It depends on how you feel and how much power you can produce under real strain.”

“I think they’ve lost the plot a little bit,” concluded Martin.