Despite being based in 2021, the Visma-Lease a Bike ladies’s workforce went via 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 workforce.
There was not a dramatic change within the rider line-up, however that appears to be coming for 2025 because the workforce’s redevelopment continues. They’re saying goodbye to stalwarts Anna Henderson and Riejanne Markus, and welcoming some of the talked-about transfers lately 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 objective is to win the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, the ambitions at Visma-Lease a Bike have ramped up dramatically. They have been Grand Tour contenders via Riejanne Markus, however by no means actually within the Tour, the place their goals have been extra targeted on stage success via Marianne Vos.
“It’s good, eh? It’s all the time good,” the workforce’s common supervisor Rutger Tijssen informed Cyclingnews concerning the added strain on the squad’s shoulders for 2025.
“What I actually like is when individuals dare to talk out about what their dream objective is as a result of then at the very least the worst factor that may occur is that you could possibly get actually near it. But making that journey with an athlete like Pauline is very nice. It’s good that she speaks out. I’ve the identical objective in thoughts as nicely, as a result of as a coach, as a efficiency coach, I all the time try for the very best, the very best potential achievable objective in a sport, and when the Tour de France is the most important objective within the sport then we should always go for that.”
“Yes, [it’s] undoubtedly achievable,” Tijssen continued. “Because it begins with having a dream, after which we see how we will create an atmosphere to make that dream come true. We imagine within the idea that we’ve got with the Visma-Lease a Bike workforce, I imagine within the athletes that I’ve across the workforce. Of course, there will likely 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 individuals in there.”
The idea and construction throughout the workforce are a few of the issues which have modified within the final yr. After the departure of common supervisor Esra Tromp and DS Carmen Small, Visma-Lease a Bike introduced in personnel from the boys’s aspect of the organisation in DS Jos van Emden, and labored on closing the hole between the 2 squads.
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“They began the workforce 4 years in the past, they usually began it kind of 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, they usually slowly tried to vary that. Now we’re extra in an integration section.
“I’ve entry to all of the sources which can be there, and we do not speak concerning the males’s workforce or the ladies’s workforce, we discuss Visma-Lease a Bike as one workforce. Yes, we’re extra biking with ladies and the others are extra biking with males, however it’s not that we’ve got a ladies’s workforce and a males’s workforce, it is extra that we’ve got a giant organisation and each rider within the organisation has entry to the sources that we’ve got.”
Tijssen hopes that these adjustments is not going to solely assist their high riders succeed however elevate the entire workforce and widen their probabilities of assembly their ambitions.
“It’s not primarily about constructing round Pauline, however it’s constructing round that objective,” he stated of the workforce’s recruitment and planning for 2025.
“It’s creating an atmosphere, mentally and bodily, the place we will actually get near attaining that objective. Yes in fact Pauline will in all probability be our predominant character in that, however we by no means understand how Fem van Empel goes to develop, possibly she’s going to be alongside her, who knew that Jonas Vingegaard was going to win the Tour de France [in 2022], that was a giant shock, so it isn’t that we goal for it with one individual, however we goal for it as a workforce. Of course Pauline is the one who says ‘I wish to try this’ which is regular, you need to say ‘I wish to win this, I wish to win that’ however as a workforce we take a broader perspective and we began constructing a workforce that may be actually, actually good.”
How precisely that workforce seems to be for 2025 shouldn’t be 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 selecting up younger abilities lately. Despite being the youthful riders on the workforce, Tijssen picked out Maud Oudeman and Rosita Reijnhout as key climbing abilities, 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 workforce nonetheless have their unique star rider, Marianne Vos. The Dutchwoman has had certainly one of her greatest seasons in latest reminiscence in 2024 and is displaying no indicators of slowing, giving the workforce two big-name riders for subsequent yr.
“With Marianne, is it a shock to me that she’s performing? Not actually,” Tijssen stated. “We made some decisions, some totally different decisions than she did previously. We utterly embedded her within the workforce, so every part is from contained in the workforce – coaching coach, efficiency plan – in order that’s good for her, that provides a little bit of a relaxation. But you by no means understand how lengthy she will be able to stand on this. I feel if we add one other season to it like this she will likely be performing the identical as this yr as a result of she continues to be keen and hungry for extra outcomes. Why must you cease? Age is a quantity and if you happen to’re bodily good and mentally good and also you’re tactically pretty much as good as Marianne, then she will be able to do what she’s doing proper now.”
Though Visma-Lease a Bike are in a self-described transition section and have some gaps to fill of their roster for 2025, the workforce appears to be on the clearest path we’ve got seen since its inception, with the foundations to assist the expertise coming their approach this winter.