Visma | LaB seeks solution to close the gap with UAE: "Maybe we need to work on our skills"

Grischa Niermann had been Visma | Lease a Bike's team manager for many years, but since Merijn Zeeman's departure, he has advanced only further up the team's ladder. The German will play an even more prominent role in tactics in 2025. The team has feelings of revenge and plans to strike back on the sporting front. Niermann talked about that in Jens Voigt's podcast,  The Odd Tandem. 

The gap with UAE Team Emirates, which secured almost all the major prizes in 2024, must be eliminated. Listening to Niermann, the best moment of the past year is, therefore, more than significant. "The day Jonas Vingegaard and Matteo Jorgenson both won the GC, in Paris-Nice and the Tirreno. Of course, we want to win the Tour again in 2025; that's the team's big goal."

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The team's two captains both struggled with serious injuries in 2024.

Niermann saw UAE excel where Visma | LaB did years earlier

Beating Pogacar in the July race. So that is the big focus of the new season. How is that going to happen? Niermann tells us. 'Jonas was better last Tour in several areas than in 2023, and he should at least have a better preparation towards 2025," the German states following Vingegaard's long rehabilitation this year. "If things progress smoothly, he will improve and should at least be able to compete for the overall victory again."

"Pogacar deserved to win the Tour. It wasn't just because of Jonas' injury," Niermann continued. "He was exceptional, and so was his team. They have made huge progress in training, nutrition, and material,' he praises the tour rival. 'It is up to us now to close that gap again, and that will certainly not be easy."

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Niermann in the car

Superlatives often don't materialize in cycling: "We also said the same about Bernal"

Voigt gave his compatriot some hope, referring to the past. "Pogacar had not defeated Vingegaard long before 2024, especially uphill. Such a superb year does not seem to be possible to repeat. We also said about Egan Bernal in 2019 that he was bound to win the Tour five times." Niermann remains calm amid the texts. "We saw that Pogacar was unbeatable this year, the best version of himself ever. We also know how good he is now."

In addition, the UAE passed the team as a whole. "That didn't make the year easy. We still won a lot. We had a lot of bad luck, but we also focused on what we could do better and how to fall less. Maybe we need to work on our peloton skills. I'm sure it can't just be because of bad luck. We need to face UAE as well."

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