Visma | Lease a Bike has it sorted: These are the goals for Van Aert, Vingegaard, Kooij, and co. in 2025

Visma | Lease a Bike shared its ambitions for 2025 on Tuesday. The Dutch formation, which held its media day in La Nucia, Spain, again targets wins in the biggest cycling races this season. "Our main objective is to win the Tour de France again. Additionally, we hope to achieve our dream of winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix," explained sports director Grischa Niermann.

"Our biggest goal is to win the Tour de France again. We managed that for two years, but not last season," said Niermann. "It makes sense that the Tour de France will be our main goal. We already managed to win the Tour twice in our existence. We have strengthened ourselves on several fronts and confidently look forward to the season. It won't be easy, but it will be an exciting challenge", he continues. "It's up to us to work out a plan to achieve that goal. In 2022 and 2023, everything went superbly. We also had a good plan ready last year, but there we faced a very dominant Tadej Pogacar next to all the bad luck we had ourselves."

So how should this seemingly unbeatable Slovenian be dealt with? "We have to find a way to beat him, and we have to do our homework for that. Jonas is the man for that, that much is clear. We have a strong team and hopefully that will work out. We have to go after the dominance of Pogacar and UAE and compete with them in every race. We are chasing our goals, but also looking at the process. No matter how much we do our best, we have no control over the competition and other things."

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Vingegaard gets Yates and Van Aert on his side at Tour, among others

Vingegaard himself brings it a little more reserved. "I can't wait to line up for the Tour again. It's the race that means the most to me, and my goal is to win it for the third time," said the Dane. "In Paris-Nice, I still have something to put right. Also, Catalunya is not yet on my palmares. So I am motivated to go for the win there. Although that's the case for every race I ride. I'm motivated to show myself in the coming season."

Wout van Aert will be one of Vingegaard's important domestiques. "After the spring classics, I will leave to Italy and ride the Giro d'Italia, where we will go for stage wins. After the Giro, there will be an altitude training camp on the program to then be fresh at the start of the Tour de France. With Jonas, we will be fighting for a third Tour victory." The Dane will begin his journey toward the Tour in Portugal, with the Volta ao Algarve on February 19.

Like the Belgian, new rider Simon Yates is also doing both grand tours. "My biggest goal in 2025 will be the Giro. The next goal for me will be the Tour de France, where I want to help Jonas (Vingegaard) secure another overall victory. It's exciting to soon be part of the team around someone like Jonas. I am motivated to assist him."

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Visma | Lease a Bike reflected intensively on 2024

"Our main objective is to win the Tour de France again," said Niermann. "Additionally, we hope to achieve our dream of winning the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix," who also looked back on last season's unlucky classic campaign. "We had a lot of bad luck last year, but in the evaluations we also concluded that we shouldn't just put injuries, illnesses and so forth under bad luck. We also need to examine where we can improve and what we can do about it. Those are small things, but after a year in which your top riders are affected, you see what that can do for the whole team."

However, Van Aert also says there was nothing wrong with last year's approach. "We will approach the spring the same way as last year, or at least the way we planned it beforehand. I will start with some races towards the Opening Weekend, then we will go on an altitude training towards the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. After that, there won't be much time to really prepare for the Giro, so we actually see that as one big block. Between the Giro and Tour, I'll go back to training at altitude."

Olav Kooij has also already pinpointed some races. "I start with some races in February, where I want to start well immediately. After the opening weekend, Kooij heads to Tirreno-Adriatico, after which he will ride Milan-Sanremo, Classic Brugge-De Panne and Gent-Wevelgem. "That's a nice block of racing. I'm going to do everything I can to win one of these classics." Like last year, his main goal is set in May. The 23-year-old sprinter will participate in his second Giro. "I'm happy to go back to Italy. It is a very nice race and I hope to be successful there again," said last year's stage winner.

Matteo Jorgenson was also already allowed to reveal his ambitions. "I want to fight for the win again in a week-long stage race, like Paris-Nice or the Critérium du Dauphiné. Last year I was already close in the Dauphiné, so that's a big motivation. I've already finished in the top five in the last two editions. It's a race I really want to win. A one-day classic is also high on my wish list for 2025. It's challenging because so many factors come into play in a classic. That's what makes it so interesting for me. And I really want to improve on my eighth place in the Tour de France and show that I'm making progress in the Grand Tours. I see myself as an overall rider for the future. It's a dream to take real steps in that direction. Riding a Grand Tour is about more than just strength. It's also a mental game."

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Niermann happy with new Visma | Lease a Bike riders

It is the first time we have had Niermann presented in this now role with Visma | Lease a Bike. "My new role, after the departure of Merijn (Zeeman, ed.), is more in management—transfers, negotiations, and so on. But I will also still just be in the team leader's car. In addition, I am responsible for the riders' programs. I had already worked on that in previous years, but the final responsibility still lay with Merijn."

"We've been pretty busy," he looks back on the offseason. "First with the evaluations, and then with the new plans. We presented those to the coaches and then to the riders to give everyone a nice program and a productive season. We did some good reinforcements. Simon Yates, of course, and Axel Zingle and Victor Campenaerts. Then McLay as a lead-out for Olav and, of course, the young guys. We have nice plans with them, and they hold promise for the future. We have also adjusted our race program so they can learn just below WorldTour level and maybe already compete for wins. We also add big races, with Jonas and Wout, among others, to create a nice combination."

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