Visma-Lease a Bike looking for new lead sponsor to compete with super-teams
Visma to stay on board as partner, as talks progressing over new funding
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Visma-Lease a Bike are looking for a new lead sponsor in order to compete with cycling's super-teams, Cycling Weekly understands.
The Dutch team, which has both men's and Women's WorldTour outfits, are looking for new investment, with talks over new sponsorship ongoing. Norwegian software company Visma will stay on board as a partner, but will no longer be front-and-centre of the team, should a deal be completed.
As first reported by Wielerflits, Visma-Lease a Bike are not in financial difficulty, with the decision coming as a result of re-evaluation of both Visma and the cycling's team's commitments.
While UAE Team Emirates-XRG remain top of the pile in terms of financial power – and therefore results – teams like Lidl-Trek, Decathlon CMA CGM and Red Bull-Bora-hansgrohe have also brought high-levels of investment with them, meaning Visma-Lease a Bike have to spend more to keep up.
Visma joined the team as a co-title partner in 2019, when the squad was Jumbo-Visma, before stepping to the front of the name in 2024, when the team became Visma-Lease a Bike. The squad, the home of Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert and Pauline Ferrand-Prévot, has a history dating back to the 1980s, including as Rabobank in the 2000s. Last year, they won the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift, and the Vuelta a España.
Last year, Rabobank returned as a "jersey sponsor" for the team, but it is unknown if the Dutch bank is one of the parties involved in talks over the future of the cycling squad.
Last month, Visma-Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge said that cycling was in a "downward spiral" due to its business model.
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"I think for everyone, we're in a downward spiral as cycling, if we like it or not, and I think that's why, for everyone, the urgency becomes bigger and bigger every day," he said.
"Not only for teams, but also to the point, a lot of relatively big teams are getting in trouble and also organisers are getting in trouble, so you have to make sure that cycling makes a big change."
Visma-Lease a Bike are not the first WorldTour team to be looking for a new title partner. Last month, EF Pro Cycling went public with their search. Last summer, as many as 15 Tour de France teams were looking for new sponsors.
The team were contacted for a statement, but declined to comment.
Adam is Cycling Weekly’s news editor – his greatest love is road racing but as long as he is cycling, he's happy. Before joining CW in 2021 he spent two years writing for Procycling. He's usually out and about on the roads of Bristol and its surrounds.
Before cycling took over his professional life, he covered ecclesiastical matters at the world’s largest Anglican newspaper and politics at Business Insider. Don't ask how that is related to riding bikes.
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