Race news
Plugge steps down as Collective Cycling Group reform project appoints new director
Daniel Benson reports that Visma | Lease a Bike CEO Richard Plugge has formally stepped down as director of Collective Cycling Group, the successor to One Cycling. The reform project now has an external director, the sports marketing executive Oliver Ciesla.
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Cor Vos
The One Cycling project may have been rejected by the UCI in the summer of 2025, but the idea remains alive under the auspices of the Collective Cycling Group.
Escape Collective reported the development of the latest iteration of the team-led reform project earlier this year, and Daniel Benson has now confirmed that Richard Plugge formally stepped down as the director of the company in May of this year.
Benson reported on his Substack that the Visma | Lease a Bike CEO stood down as director of Collective Cycling Group LTD on May 25. Notice of the change was filed formally with Companies House, the UK register of companies, on June 9, when the company also named Oliver Ciesla as its new director.
Ciesla, who previously worked for sports marketing agencies Sportfive and The Sportsman Media Group, has no formal ties to any existing team, marking a new phase in attempts to get the project off the ground.
The 58-year-old confirmed to Benson that he was director of Collective Cycling Group LTD, but he declined to discuss his role or the project for the time being.
The project first entered the public domain in October 2023, when Reuters reported that a number of teams, including Visma and Ineos Grenadiers, had held discussions regarding a new financial model for cycling, with potential backing from Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.
The UCI Management Committee formally rejected the One Cycling project in June 2025, with UCI president David Lappartient warning that teams risked being stripped of their WorldTour licences if they persisted with the project. Lappartient told Wielerflits that the UCI would itself hold talks with the Saudi investors behind the project.
Despite that stumbling block, the idea behind the One Cycling has persisted, with the company formally changing its name from Onecycling Limited to Collective Cycling Group LTD.
Escape Collective has reported that Ivan Glasenberg, the backer of Pinarello-Q36.5 and owner of both Pinarello and Q36.5, is now a key figure in the project. Although Plugge has stepped down from a formal role, he reportedly remains a proponent of the idea.
It remains to be seen, however, if the appointment of an external director will bring the idea any closer to reality than previous attempts at breakaway leagues and major structural reform in professional cycling.
