{"id":669902,"date":"2026-01-02T22:41:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:41:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/669902\/"},"modified":"2026-01-02T22:41:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-02T22:41:12","slug":"visma-change-tact-to-target-riders-who-had-consistent-seasons-without-too-many-injuries-or-illnesses-after-exits-of-van-baarle-benoot-uijtdebroeks-among-others","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/669902\/","title":{"rendered":"Visma change tact to target “riders who had consistent seasons without too many injuries or illnesses” after exits of Van Baarle, Benoot & Uijtdebroeks among others"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nA deliberate mix of youth and experience\u201cWe also looked at big talents, such as Davide Piganzoli<\/a>, but also riders with experience, like Owain Doull<\/a>,\u201d Niermann added.<\/p>\n

That mix matters because it signals intent. Visma are trying to protect the present while building the next layer underneath it, especially as the departures remove depth across both stage races and the Classics.<\/p>\n

Managing expectations around Piganzoli<\/p>\n

Piganzoli is a good example of how carefully they want that transition managed. \u201cI don\u2019t want to put too much pressure on Davide,\u201d Niermann said. \u201cHe is a talented general classification rider, and hopefully he can develop well within our team.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rather than casting him as an instant answer, Visma\u2019s language frames Piganzoli as a rider to be shaped steadily inside their environment, with progression measured over time rather than demanded immediately.<\/p>\n

\"davidepiganzoli\"\/<\/p>\n

Italian prospect Davide Piganzoli joins Visma from Team Polti VisitMalta<\/p>\n

Replacing Benoot\u2019s role, not his profile<\/p>\n

The same logic appears in how they have gone about replacing Benoot\u2019s influence on the road. Visma are not pretending that sort of versatility is easy to reproduce, but they believe one signing in particular has been undervalued.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe knew we had to replace Tiesj Benoot,\u201d Niermann said. \u201cThat\u2019s very difficult. He\u2019s a great guy and rider, extremely versatile. We will definitely miss him, but in terms of support in the Grand Tours and especially in the Classics we have found someone in Timo who is very underrated.\u201d<\/p>\n

That rider is Timo Kielich<\/a>, and Visma\u2019s rationale for backing him is grounded in qualities that rarely make highlight reels. \u201cHe impressed us at moments when the TV broadcast hadn\u2019t even started yet,\u201d Niermann said. \u201cWe saw Timo being first into a corner five times in a row, while 180 riders wanted the same thing.\u201dWhy 2025 still fell short internally<\/p>\n

Only once the recruitment logic is laid out does the broader context of Visma\u2019s mindset become clear. The team may have delivered major results in 2025, but their internal framing makes it obvious they are still measuring themselves against their highest objective.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe big, big goal was to win all the Grand Tours, and we won two of them,\u201d Niermann said. \u201cWe can certainly call it a success, although we would have liked to win the Tour de France, the biggest race of the year.\u201d<\/p>\n

Measuring themselves against the benchmark<\/p>\n

And that final point feeds directly into how they view the competitive landscape they are trying to close down, particularly against the team that set the pace for overall output. \u201cWe have to congratulate UAE Team Emirates – XRG after a season with almost 100 victories, and we were quite a long way off that,\u201d Niermann said. \u201cBut it inspires us.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Visma, then, the transfer market response is not being sold as a rebuild or a panic move. It is a deliberate tactical shift, built around a simple belief: consistency and availability are now non-negotiable foundations if they want to keep winning big, and win even more often.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A deliberate mix of youth and experience\u201cWe also looked at big talents, such as Davide Piganzoli, but…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":669903,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[184847,4230,204035,11180,190593,204034,79,180916,188742,204033,182814,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-669902","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cian-uijtdebroeks","9":"tag-cycling","10":"tag-davide-piganzoli","11":"tag-dylan-van-baarle","12":"tag-grischa-niermann","13":"tag-owain-doull","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-team-visma-lease-a-bike","16":"tag-tiesj-benoot","17":"tag-timo-kielich","18":"tag-transfers-negotiations","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115827918971222552","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669902","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=669902"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/669902\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/669903"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=669902"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=669902"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=669902"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}