Plugge confident over Visma sponsor hunt - 'We are the biggest investment opportunity in cycling'

The Dutch squad, home to Jonas Vingegaard, Wout van Aert, Matthew Brennan and Matteo Jorgenson, remain one of the most powerful teams in the peloton. While their long-term commercial structure is still being shaped, Plugge believes the team’s position is strong rather than vulnerable.

Speaking to Feltet.dk during the Giro d’Italia, the Visma CEO said there is clear interest from the market and that the team’s sporting profile makes it an attractive proposition for brands looking to enter or expand in cycling.

“The search is going well,” Plugge said. “In my view, we are the biggest investment opportunity in cycling right now. A lot of brands and companies recognise that, which is positive for us. Together with our current partners, we have major plans for the years ahead.”

Reports over the past two months have pegged the team's replacement target at €20-30 million a year, with the team needing the investment to keep pace with the rising budgets at UAE Team Emirates-XRG and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.

Visma | Lease a Bike have built one of the most successful projects in modern cycling, turning consistent Grand Tour success and a broad classics presence into one of the benchmark teams in the WorldTour. But Plugge does not want the team to stand still.

The ambition, he says, is not simply to protect what has already been built, but to make the organisation even bigger.

“We want to keep growing, and Visma also wants to be part of that journey going forward. That is important for us. We are working very hard on it,” he explained.

On the road, the target is equally clear. Visma want to be recognised not only as one of the best teams in the world, but as the best. Plugge pointed to the UCI ranking as one of the measures the team is using to shape its next phase.

“We are trying to become number one in the UCI ranking. That is the base from which we want to continue building the team,” he said.

Last season, Visma finished second in the world ranking, behind UAE. The gap to their great rivals was significant, with UAE collecting more than twice as many points, but Plugge believes the team has the sporting and commercial foundations to keep pushing.

The team’s financial future has also been the subject of attention because of Robert van der Waelen, the Dutch businessman and co-owner of the team. Earlier this year, Vingegaard suggested that Van der Waelen would be ready to step in if the sponsor search became urgent.

Plugge, however, is careful not to frame the situation as a rescue operation.

“Robert is a good friend of mine and of the team, but that is not how we see it,” Plugge said. “We are a company. We want to develop the business, and we want to be the best team in the coming years. Maybe we already are today.”

For now, Visma’s focus is split between racing and building. At the Giro d’Italia, the team are chasing overall victory with Jonas Vingegaard for the second year in a row after Simon Yates delivered the title in 2025. Behind the scenes, the task is just as clear: secure the next commercial step and give the team the budget to keep challenging UAE.