Visma | Lease a Bike sees Dutch youth lag behind Scandinavians: "They really do significantly more"

In 2020, Jumbo-Visma established its development team, following the discontinuation of Rabobank's team in 2016. With names such as Olav Kooij, Finn Fisher-Black, and the Van Dijke brothers, it was an excellent setup for the WorldTour. The Development Team is now in its sixth year, led by Robbert de Groot.

The Head of Development at Visma | Lease a Bike was a guest on the podcast In de Waaier by Thijs Zonneveld and Hidde van Warmerdam. There, the Dutchman discusses the team's goal: finding talent for the WorldTour team, and not all of it has to be Dutch. “Richard (Plugge, team boss Visma | LaB, ed.) says to me: make sure you find the new Jonas, Wout, or Olav.”

The difference with last year is striking: while in 2024 there were still six Dutch riders in the development team, in 2025 Sjors Lugthart was the only Dutchman. De Groot sees that other countries, particularly in Scandinavia, have an advantage over our youth. "Those boys are much more likely to choose to pursue professional sports for fun. Then you run the risk of falling behind, so to speak. That's difficult to close the gap on."

With Jonas Kind Høydahl and Mikal Grimstad Uglehus, Visma | Lease a Bike has two Norwegians in its development team, and with Jørgen Nordhagen and Per Strand Hagenes, two more young riders from that country are riding in the elite squad. “When I see them, those guys really enjoy what they do. But they do a lot, significantly more than the boys and girls here,” says De Groot, referring to Scandinavian youth.

So why is it that Dutch youth, who are raised on bikes, are lagging behind? According to De Groot, it is mainly due to cultural attitudes. “In some countries, sport is much more important than it is here. However, I believe that in the Netherlands, when it comes to top-level sport, it has to be enjoyable for a long time, but ultimately, it's just a super-tough job. That requires investment.”

To close the gap, juniors need professional guidance. To this end, Visma | Lease a Bike will be collaborating with the KNWU, as well as the NOC-NSF. “We're seeing some boys and girls emerging who are really showing their potential. This is mainly because the structure and amount of training are stable, all year round.”

Finally, De Groot wants to eliminate what he considers to be Visma | Lease a Bike's negative image. “It’s too easy to say that we are a robotized team that only looks at numbers and weighs every grain of rice. That’s really nonsense. Of course, we look at a lot of data because it’s very easy to generate that with cycling. But we also look at background, character, family, school..."