Picnic PostNL places fate of 'culture of fear' investigation in the hands of lawyer who investigated Michael Rasmussen

The NOS reports that Picnic PostNL took the initiative and approached Olfers to conduct this investigation. The team came under fire when a major article was recently published, describing a culture of fear at Picnic PostNL.

Cycling journalist Thijs Zonneveld and the NOS spoke with a total of 71 people involved.

Picnic PostNL responded with surprise: “The stories from (former) riders and (former) employees touch us. At the same time, we do not recognise ourselves in the general picture painted in the publications. The fact that experiences vary does not detract from the seriousness of the stories that are now coming to light,” they said.

It has also been announced that an independent investigation will shed more light on the entire matter.

“That is why we will commission an independent investigation into how the team culture is experienced in practice and to what extent it aligns with the culture we strive for,” Picnic PostNL stated in its initial press release.

Olfers, who works as a lawyer and professor of sports and law at the University of Amsterdam, has a background in elite sports. For example, between 2011 and 2012, she served on the Supervisory Board of Ajax, which was in the midst of a major crisis at the time.

In cycling, she was part of the investigation into Michael Rasmussen during the 2007 Tour de France, commissioned by Rabobank.

The committee of which Olfers was a member concluded in November 2007 that Rabobank had made the right decision to remove Rasmussen from the Tour de France and to fire him because he had lied about his whereabouts.

However, the committee did find that Rasmussen should never have been allowed to start and that the team management had not given sufficient consideration to potential damage to the team’s reputation.

So now Picnic is placing its fate in the hands of Verinorm, Olfers’ research firm.

“The media is reporting that there is a culture of fear. We’re going to investigate that scientifically. We’re going to do that as thoroughly and as quickly as possible,” said the 57-year-old Dutch woman.