Visma-Lease a Bike welcome competition from Red Bull following major cycling investment

The news that Red Bull acquired a controlling stake in Bora-Hansgrohe sent shockwaves through the sport of professional cycling, but rival team Visma-Lease a Bike only see the investment and competition as a sign that the sport’s stature and reputation are improving.

Almost immediately after Red Bull’s news was confirmed, speculation began to circulate with rumours that their arrival could sway Visma-Lease a Bike leader Wout van Aert towards the new project. There’s little evidence to suggest that this could happen soon, despite the Belgian having a personal sponsorship deal with the drinks brand but Visma sports director Merjin Zeeman only saw the company’s increased investment as a positive news story — even if it could lead to greater competition in Grand Tours and Spring Classics.

“It depends on their strategy and what they want in cycling but it’s really good for our sport that big companies are entering cycling,” Zeeman told GCN from his team’s training camp in Tenerife.

“It says a lot about the positioning of cycling in the global side of sports. Previously I think that Red Bull were a bit hesitant about entering cycling because of the doping past but now they have the belief that the sport is in a very good place and that’s the result of the fight against doping, that the teams did together with the UCI and the ITA [International Testing Agency]. That’s good news for all of us and it’s a big signal to other really big companies to enter the sport. If Red Bull wants to do it then it’s clear that they think cycling can grow. I really think that it’s a good thing.”

Red Bull's influence could take several months to filter through into the Bora-Hansgrohe organisation but one of Zeeman’s more pressing concerns centres around his team’s Classics ambitions and the target of winning a Monument. The team won all three Grand Tours last year but missed out on one of cycling’s most prized one-day races. This year the team has doubled down on addressing that gap with Wout van Aert primed for the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

“We won five Classics last year and that’s pretty good but of course, the big aim is Flanders or Roubaix. It’s obviously harder to win those races than the other ones but we’re always looking for things that we can optimise from a performance standpoint. That’s training, nutrition, tactics, strategy, and all the things we constantly try to improve so that we can get closer to the win. That’s the biggest job that we have,” Zeeman said.

The core of the Visma-Lease a Bike team has remained intact from 2023, with one major exception following the retirement of Nathan Van Hooydonck. Zeeman believes that the squad has enough depth to challenge the likes of Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Deceuninck).

“The big loss is Nathan, of course. He was super important and that’s a big loss. On the other hand, we have Jan Tratnik and Matteo Jorgenson, and they’re both super strong additions to that group. There are some other guys banging on the door, like Tim and Mick van Dijke, so young guys coming from the development team. They’ll also try and take their place in the same so we have enough competition. We have a very strong team.”

The fact that last year’s Tour of Flanders winner Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) will not return to defend his crown ultimately helps the Dutch squad too, but van der Poel’s cyclo-cross form will be a concern given the dominant results he has had over the last couple of months.

“That’s a big, big difference with no Pogačar. He was by far the best last year and it would be incredibly difficult to beat him if he was there but we still have Mathieu van der Poel as a super-strong rider, and he’s won it two times. He’s the big favourite for these races again in my opinion. Last year he was super good in all the big races that he wanted to be good in. He will be good at all of the most important moments of the year and that makes our job very clear too. We need to be better than last year to beat him. It’s a very nice challenge to see if we can get closer to him,” Zeeman said.

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