Regardless of being based in 2021, the Visma-Lease a Bike girls’s crew went by one thing of a rebirth in 2024: many of the managing and directing employees modified and an emphasis was positioned on bringing the ladies’s squad nearer to the all-conquering males’s crew.
There was no dramatic change within the rider line-up, however that appears to be coming for 2025 because the crew’s redevelopment continues. They’re saying goodbye to stalwarts Anna Henderson and Riejanne Markus, and welcoming one of the crucial talked-about transfers in recent times as Pauline Ferrand-Prévot makes her return to street racing after specializing in mountain biking for the final 4 years.
With Ferrand-Prévot being clear that her aim is to win the Tour de France Femmes, the ambitions at Visma-Lease a Bike have ramped up dramatically. They’ve been Grand Tour contenders by Riejanne Markus, however by no means actually within the Tour, the place their goals have been extra centered on stage success by Marianne Vos.
“It is good, eh? It is all the time good,” the crew’s basic supervisor Rutger Tijssen advised Cyclingnews in regards to the added stress on the squad’s shoulders for 2025.
“What I actually like is when folks dare to talk out about what their dream aim is as a result of then at the very least the worst factor that may occur is that you can get actually near it. However making that journey with an athlete like Pauline is very nice. It is good that she speaks out.
“I’ve the identical aim in thoughts as nicely, as a result of as a coach, as a efficiency coach, I all the time try for the best, the best potential achievable aim in a sport, and when the Tour de France is the largest aim within the sport then we must always go for that.
“Sure, [it’s] undoubtedly achievable,” Tijssen continued. “As a result of it begins with having a dream, after which we see how we are able to create an atmosphere to make that dream come true. We consider within the idea that now we have with the Visma-Lease a Bike crew, I consider within the athletes that I’ve across the crew.
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“After all, there can be adjustments, that all the time occurs, as we began with the employees as nicely, that is fairly regular, however when the organisation is there and the construction is there then it is fairly simple to suit new folks in there.”
The idea and construction throughout the crew are among the issues which have modified within the final yr. After the departure of basic supervisor Esra Tromp and DS Carmen Small, Visma-Lease a Bike introduced in personnel from the boys’s facet of the organisation in DS Jos van Emden, and labored on closing the hole between the 2 squads.
“They began the crew 4 years in the past, and so they began it roughly as a standalone unit,” Tijssen defined. “And alongside the way in which the administration noticed that there have been some issues lacking within the communication in direction of our high-performance centre, the communication in direction of different coaches, and so they slowly tried to alter that. Now we’re extra in an integration section.
“I’ve entry to all of the assets which might be there, and we do not speak in regards to the males’s crew or the ladies’s crew, we discuss Visma-Lease a Bike as one crew. Sure, we’re extra biking with girls and the others are extra biking with males, but it surely’s not that now we have a girls’s crew and a males’s crew, it is extra that now we have an enormous organisation and each rider within the organisation has entry to the assets that now we have.”
Tijssen hopes that these adjustments won’t solely assist their high riders succeed however elevate the entire crew and widen their probabilities of assembly their ambitions.
“It is not primarily about constructing round Pauline, but it surely’s constructing round that aim,” he stated of the crew’s recruitment and planning for 2025.
“It is creating an atmosphere, mentally and bodily, the place we are able to actually get near reaching that aim. Sure, in fact, Pauline will in all probability be our essential character in that, however we by no means know the way Fem van Empel goes to develop, perhaps she’s going to be alongside her, who knew that Jonas Vingegaard was going to win the Tour de France [in 2022], that was an enormous shock, so it isn’t that we intention for it with one particular person, however we intention for it as a crew.
“After all, Pauline is the one who says ‘I wish to do this’ which is regular, you need to say ‘I wish to win this, I wish to win that’ however as a crew, we take a broader perspective and we began constructing a crew that may be actually, actually good.”
How precisely that crew seems for 2025 isn’t but clear – they solely have 10 confirmed riders on the time of writing – however Tijssen confirmed that they’re mixing expertise and youth, after primarily choosing up younger skills in recent times.
Regardless of being the youthful riders on the crew, Tijssen picked out Maud Oudeman and Rosita Reijnhout as key climbing skills, and extra signings and renewals are anticipated to be on the way in which after their first new additions, neo-pro Imogen Wolff and Viktória Chladoňová.
The piece of the puzzle that may’t be forgotten is that amongst all of the adjustments, the crew nonetheless have their unique star rider, Marianne Vos. The Dutchwoman has had considered one of her greatest seasons in latest reminiscence in 2024 and is exhibiting no indicators of slowing, giving the crew two big-name riders for subsequent yr.
“With Marianne, is it a shock to me that she’s performing? Not likely,” Tijssen stated. “We made some decisions, some completely different decisions than she did previously. We fully embedded her within the crew, so every part is from contained in the crew – coaching coach, efficiency plan – in order that’s good for her, that offers a little bit of a relaxation.
“However you by no means know the way lengthy she will be able to stand on this. I feel if we add one other season to it like this she can be performing the identical as this yr as a result of she remains to be keen and hungry for extra outcomes. Why do you have to cease? Age is a quantity and in the event you’re bodily good and mentally good and also you’re tactically nearly as good as Marianne, then she will be able to do what she’s doing proper now.”
Although Visma-Lease a Bike are in a self-described transition section and have some gaps to fill of their roster for 2025, the crew appears to be on the clearest path now we have seen since its inception, with the foundations to assist the expertise coming their means this winter.
