Visma's latest British sprint sensation announces himself at the ZLM Tour: 'Huge compliment to our scouting system'

Visma | Lease a Bike didn’t just win with at the Vuelta a España on Sunday. The ZLM Tour was also taking place in the Netherlands. Here, Visma took a surprise win on the final stage thanks to a somewhat surprising rider. 19-year-old Brit Henry Hobbs won the sprint, securing his first professional victory in his still-budding career. By the looks of things, Visma | Lease a Bike has another (fast) gem on its hands.

With five of its six riders under the age of 25, Visma | Lease a Bike lined up at the start of the ZLM Tour with an eager team. Loe van Belle ultimately finished as the team’s best rider in the general classification, in 11th place, but it had been a grueling race for the young riders, with fierce echelons forming every single day. Success had eluded them so far, but on the final day, their fortunes turned.

In the sprint, Hobbs beat out WorldTour riders including Max Walscheid (Lidl-Trek) and Danny van Poppel (Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe). “It was a hectic final lap,” the winner said on the team’s website. “The team played a huge role today, particularly by positioning me well and keeping me out of the wind. Hats off to them. I’m really happy that I was able to win my very first pro race right away.”

Nineteen-year-old Hobbs was still racing at the club level last year, but made the move to the Visma | Lease a Bike development team. There, he put on a great performance at the junior level, but the ZLM Tour was his very first race where he was allowed to ride with the elite team. So he seized that opportunity with both hands.

That makes team manager Arthur van Dongen happy. “After five days of hard racing in the Netherlands, it’s wonderful to finish it off this way. Especially with this young team. They’ve been working more and more together this week and collaborated fantastically today to secure this victory. What’s more, everyone has made great strides this week and has gotten better every day.”

Matthew Brennan, who is two years older, has already won three stages in the Vuelta a España, but Hobbs appears to be a new British sprint sensation. “This is a huge compliment to our scouting system, that we’re able to identify these guys and guide them through our development program,” says Van Dongen about his young team. “This is the first race they’ve ridden at the pro level, and to finish it off like this means a lot to the team.”