A look behind the scenes: A visit to the Visma professional team | Lease a Bike

When you think of Visma | Lease a Bike’s headquarters, you probably picture a state-of-the-art building with a huge team logo, gleaming glass façades and plenty of prestige. When I arrive at the Dutch headquarters, however, my first thought is quite different: Wow, how unassuming.

In fact, at first glance there is little to suggest that one of the world’s most successful cycling teams is based here. The most striking feature is the fleet of vehicles around the building. I park my car amongst several team cars and immediately spot details that look familiar. I recognise the race stickers on the windscreens from the Tour de France. One car had clearly been in action at the Vuelta recently, another at the Bretagne Classic. Apart from that, the small team logo in front of the entrance is almost the only clue as to what lies behind the doors.

As soon as the doors open, however, I step into a whole new world. In the entrance area, the racing bikes on display and the walls lined with cycling jerseys immediately catch my eye. Before the main event begins, I take a good, close look at everything. After all, it’s not every day you get the chance to stand where the foundations for great victories are laid.

Of coffee cups and calorie plans

The day begins with coffee and a few snacks. The coffee, in particular, is just what I need. Daphne Steensma, Head of Performance, then takes the floor and shares some insights into an area that is becoming increasingly important in professional cycling: nutrition.

How does a team with so many riders manage to provide each athlete with exactly the nutrients they need? Steensma explains the processes behind this, interspersing his talk with anecdotes from major stage races. It soon becomes clear that successful nutrition plans aren’t just put together on race day, but are planned months in advance and constantly refined.

Where hundreds of bikes are waiting to be used

The talk is followed by a guided tour of the headquarters. I’d actually been particularly looking forward to seeing the large conference room at Team Visma | Lease a Bike. Unfortunately, it’s in use. However, we’re able to catch a quick glimpse inside through a glass pane. Some of the trophies and cups they’ve won are on display there. Behind it lies another, particularly important room, as we later learnt.

First, however, we head to the place that impresses me the most: the workshop and the parts store. “We’ve got between 300 and 500 bikes here,” one of the mechanics explains to us. The Dutchman spent eight years travelling the world competing in races himself and now works mainly from the headquarters. Together with his colleagues, he prepares bikes, kit and lorries for the numerous races of the season.

A glance around the workshop makes the scale of the materials involved clear. At one workbench, wheels are being centred; at the next, wheels are being assembled and serviced. There’s a focused buzz of activity everywhere. Unfortunately, there’s a strict rule here: no photos, no videos. Why is that, exactly? The mechanic answers with a slight grin. “We’re currently preparing the wheels for the coming season. Officially, no one’s allowed to see them yet.” That’s understandable. It’s a shame, though.

More than eight riders on television

We then head back to the presentation area. There, Robby Cobbaert takes over and talks about the team’s sporting strategy. His key message: a cycling team isn’t just made up of the eight riders you see on TV on race day. Around 250 staff members work at Visma | Lease a Bike on a wide variety of projects and in different departments. From coaches and nutritionists to mechanics, data analysts and IT specialists, everyone plays their part in the team’s success.

I find the insights into talent development particularly fascinating. Whilst other top teams often rely on established stars, Visma | Lease a Bike sometimes takes a different approach when signing new riders. The budget also plays an important role here. Not every decision is made by the team with the deepest pockets. Instead, the team focuses on identifying potential at an early stage and developing it over the long term. What I find even more interesting, however, is that the team now manages the major races from the room behind the conference room. Using numerous screens, decisions are made from here which are then implemented on the ground during the race.

40 kilometres of idyllic Dutch cycling

The highlight of the day, however, is yet to come. Together with a member of the team, we’re setting off on a ride of around 40 kilometres. Our guide is Wesley de Veer, who looks after the IT for the team. In his spare time, he does one thing above all else: cycling. That’s hardly surprising for one of the world’s biggest cycling teams.

The weather is absolutely perfect for this. The sun is shining, the roads are empty, and time and again we ride along those typical Dutch dykes. These are exactly the sort of roads you’d want to spend hours cycling on. However, the ride doesn’t turn out to be a proper training session. My cycle computer reads 29 km/h at the end. In a group of ten people, that works out at just under 100 watts of average power for me. Even when I ride alongside Wesley at the front for a while, the effort remains fairly modest.

But that’s not what this day is about at all. Far more important is the realisation that remains: Visma | Lease a Bike’s successes aren’t just forged on the race course. They’re forged in unassuming offices, in workshops full of bikes, in meeting rooms, in nutrition plans, and through the work of hundreds of people you never see on television. From the outside, the headquarters looks surprisingly unspectacular. Behind the doors, however, lies an impressive machine that works every day to win the world’s best cycle races.