'He wants to move on, and I respect that choice' – Visma-Lease a Bike's head of racing to move to Lidl-Trek this season
Grischa Niermann has been with the Dutch team since turning pro in 1998
Stalwart Visma-Lease a Bike staffer Grischa Niermann will move to Lidl-Trek, it was revealed this week, reportedly replacing their long-standing general manager, Luca Guercilena.
The Dutch team's head of racing has been with the team in yellow since 2017, and is often a key staffing fixture on the ground at the biggest races. A former pro with Visma-Lease a Bike's previous incarnation Rabobank, 50-year-old German Niermann initially headed up the Rabobank development team after he retired in 2012, before becoming a director on the men's senior squad, then called LottoNL-Jumbo. He was promoted to the head of racing position in late 2024, after the departure of Merijn Zeeman. The German will continue to work for Visma until the end of August.
Niermann's move is part of continued and major shuffle within the Lidl-Trek management structure that began with Lidl's majority acquisition of the team in October last year. Since then the Schleck brothers Andy and Frank have been brought in – Andy as deputy general manager and Frank as a sports director. Now Niermann will be replacing Luca Guercilena – the highly respected general manager who has been with the set-up since 2011.
However, the new-look Lidl-Trek team has not had the best start to its season, with the men's and women's teams only gaining half the victories they had enjoyed this time last year – though those numbers have had a boost this week with wins by Jonathan Milan and Elisa Balsamo in the men's and women's Giri d'Italia.
Visma-Lease a Bike announced on Tuesday morning that Niermann's role will be filled by Marc Reef, a current sports director with the team who helped shepherd Jonas Vingegaard to his recent Giro d'Italia win. They also thanked Niermann for his work and "unwavering commitment" in a statement.
"I think like most of you are now, I was surprised when Grischa called me a couple of weeks ago to share his decision to leave," Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Pugge said on Tuesday.
"I'm very sad that Grischa is now leaving. He just started in his new role, and he was developing more and more. I'm disappointed to see him leave, because as a person and as a great sports director, I have a lot of respect for him, and together we achieved exceptional success, including multiple Grand Tour victories, and most recently our victory in Paris-Roubaix, which was the pinnacle, maybe, of what we tried to achieve.
"I'm very happy to have worked with Grischa, and I wish him all the best. He's close to my heart, and it's a friend, but he wants to move on, and I respect that choice."
