Regardless of being based in 2021, the Visma-Lease a Bike ladies’s group 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 group.
There was not a dramatic change within the rider line-up, however that appears to be coming for 2025 because the group’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 highway 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 avec Zwift, the ambitions at Visma-Lease a Bike have ramped up dramatically. They’ve 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 is good, eh? It is all the time good,” the group’s normal supervisor Rutger Tijssen instructed Cyclingnews in regards to 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 aim is as a result of then not less than the worst factor that may occur is that you may 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 properly, as a result of as a coach, as a efficiency coach, I all the time try for the best, the best doable achievable aim in a sport, and when the Tour de France is the largest aim within the sport then we should always go for that.”
“Sure, [it’s] positively 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 we now have with the Visma-Lease a Bike group, I consider within the athletes that I’ve across the group. In fact, there can be adjustments, that all the time occurs, as we began with the employees as properly, that is fairly regular, however when the organisation is there and the construction is there then it is fairly straightforward to suit new individuals in there.”
The idea and construction inside the group are among the issues which have modified within the final yr. After the departure of normal 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 group 4 years in the past, and so they 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, and so they 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 in regards to the males’s group or the ladies’s group, we discuss Visma-Lease a Bike as one group. Sure, we’re extra biking with ladies and the others are extra biking with males, but it surely’s not that we now have a ladies’s group and a males’s group, it is extra that we now have a giant organisation and each rider within the organisation has entry to the sources that we now have.”
Tijssen hopes that these adjustments is not going to solely assist their high riders succeed however elevate the entire group and widen their possibilities of assembly their ambitions.
“It isn’t primarily about constructing round Pauline, but it surely’s constructing round that aim,” he stated of the group’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 after all Pauline will most likely be our most important character in that, however we by no means know the way 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 intention for it with one particular person, however we intention for it as a group. In fact 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 group we take a broader perspective and we began constructing a group that may be actually, actually good.”
How precisely that group appears to be like 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 group, 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 group nonetheless have their authentic star rider, Marianne Vos. The Dutchwoman has had considered one of her finest seasons in current reminiscence in 2024 and is exhibiting no indicators of slowing, giving the group two big-name riders for subsequent yr.
“With Marianne, is it a shock to me that she’s performing? Probably not,” Tijssen stated. “We made some decisions, some totally different decisions than she did previously. We fully embedded her within the group, so all the pieces is from contained in the group – coaching coach, efficiency plan – in order that’s good for her, that provides a little bit of a relaxation. However you by no means know the way lengthy she will stand on this. I believe 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 must you cease? Age is a quantity and when you’re bodily good and mentally good and also you’re tactically nearly as good as Marianne, then she will 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 group appears to be on the clearest path we now have seen since its inception, with the foundations to assist the expertise coming their method this winter.