Dominant yet denied - Visma | Lease a Bike 2025 verdict

2024 marked a difficult year for the Dutch team, with both Wout van Aert and Jonas Vingegaard suffering serious crashes ahead of their major goals. Despite the significant injuries that he suffered at the Itzulia Basque Country, Jonas Vingegaard made a remarkable recovery to appear on the start line of the Tour de France. 

The Dane grew into the race and even managed to beat Tadej Pogačar in a sprint to the line to win stage 11. Whilst the Slovenian overpowered the Dane in the third week, it was a performance of courage for Vingegaard, whose main priority for 2025 would be that he could reach the start line of the Tour fit and healthy. 

The arrivals of Simon Yates and Victor Campenaerts were significant, two riders likely to feature in the Tour de France squad, and the promotion of talented riders such as Jorgen Nordhagen, Matthew Brennan were ones to watch.

The main question was, could Jonas Vingegaard close the gap to Tadej Pogačar, and how big of an impact did his crash at Itzulia Basque Country have on the outcome of the 2024 Tour?

Wins: 40
UCI Ranking: 2nd
The Verdict: 9/10

2025 saw two Grand Tour victories for the team with Simon Yates at the Giro d’Italia and Jonas Vingegaard at the Vuelta a España. Whilst Vingegaard and Visma had to settle for 2nd at the Tour de France once more behind Tadej Pogačar, the team did excellently to take their opportunities to win when the dominant Slovenian was not present.

Wout van Aert roared to two memorable Grand Tour stage wins, proving any doubts about his ability to win big races. Meanwhile, Olav Kooij won a plethora of sprints in what was his final season with the team before moving to Decathlon for 2026.

Matteo Jorgenson backed up a brilliant debut season with the team, defending his Paris-Nice title, before playing a supporting role to Vingegaard at both the Tour de France and Vuelta a España, the latter of which he finished 10th overall. 

Matthew Brennan established himself as one of the biggest talents in the sport. The British rider claimed 12 victories in his debut season as a professional, and each was sealed in style, illustrating that the Dutch team have a major asset on their hands.

The likes of Sepp Kuss, Tiesj Benoot, Victor Campenaerts, and Ben Tulett were all valuable teammates throughout the campaign. Additionally, Christophe Laporte, who missed the majority of the campaign, marked his return in the autumn by winning the GC at the NIBC Tour of Holland. 

The team’s performance in the Spring Classics, however, fell a bit short of expectations. Wout van Aert finished fourth in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix but never truly found himself in position to fight for victory.

In total, Visma | Lease a Bike claimed 40 victories in 2025 and ended the campaign 2nd in the UCI team rankings. Only UAE Team Emirates-XRG featured more riders in the top 100 of these rankings than Visma | Lease a Bike, confirming that the Dutch team remain one of the strongest forces in the peloton.

After overcoming adversity in 2024, the start of this season also provided Jonas Vingegaard with a test of his character. Following victory at the Volta ao Algarve, Vingegaard suffered a concussion from a crash at Paris-Nice, which saw a prolonged period of absence until the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Here, it became apparent that Tadej Pogačar was operating on a different level from the rest of the peloton, leaving Vingegaard having to settle for being the best of the rest. A similar tale was told at the Tour de France, with Vingegaard ending 2nd, showing plenty of heart in the final week, particularly on the stage to Mont Ventoux, where he relentlessly tried to distance Pogačar. 

After a summer of near misses, Vingegaard secured overall victory at the Vuelta a España, the third Grand Tour success of his career, and along the way picked up three stage victories. This Grand Tour success saw Vingegaard end his 2025 campaign 3rd in the UCI rankings, behind only Pogačar and Isaac del Toro.

The Giro d’Italia stands out for the manner in which Visma | Lease a Bike snatched the maglia rosa from Isaac del Toro and UAE Team Emirates-XRG at the final breath. Seeing Simon Yates battle his way to redemption on the slopes of the Colle delle Finestre, after losing the race back in 2018 on the climb, was a special moment, and the strategic placing of Wout van Aert in the breakaway allowed the Belgian to help Yates seal the deal, a textbook example of racing tactics. 

Beyond Yates's victory, the team enjoyed more success via a sprint victory for Olav Kooij and Wout van Aert’s epic triumph on the gravel stage. Considering that the ‘strongest’ Visma squad would have been sent to the Tour to support Vingegaard, the fact that the team came away from the Giro with the pink jersey and three stage wins makes it a resounding success.

Simon Yates delivered when it mattered most in 2025. The British rider sealed that stunning Giro d’Italia title, adding to the Vuelta a España he won in 2018. Following this, Yates made the quick turnaround to feature in Visma | Lease a Bike’s Tour de France squad, and once more made his mark. Yates claimed the third Tour stage win of his career, on Bastille Day, and following his individual success, contributed to Jonas Vingegaard’s yellow jersey hunt whilst finishing 15th overall himself.

Sepp Kuss ended up with the most race days for Visma | Lease a Bike in 2025 with 72. Among Kuss's race days were the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España GC success with Jonas Vingegaard, where Kuss himself finished 7th overall.

• Alpecin-Deceuninck
• Arkea B&B Hotels
• Bahrain Victorious
• Cofidis
• Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale
• EF Education-EasyPost
• Groupama-FDJ
• Ineos Grenadiers
• Intermarché-Wanty
• Jayco-Alula
• Lidl-Trek
• Movistar
• Picnic PostNL
• Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe
• Soudal Quick-Step
• UAE Emirates-XRG
• XDS-Astana