Visma overhaul management for 2027 with Van Hooydonck appointment

Nathan Van Hooydonck has been appointed as head of sports management at Visma | Lease a Bike with immediate effect, while Addy Engels will reportedly rejoin the team’s staff after a one-year spell at Tudor Pro Cycling.

Visma announced Van Hooydonck’s new role on Monday. The Belgian spent three seasons as a rider with Visma before retiring in 2023 due to a serious heart condition. He joined Visma’s business team the following year, and he has now made the move across to the role of sporting director.

“It feels very special to return to the sporting heart of the team,” Van Hooydonck said in a statement on Monday. “I was fortunate enough to be part of this myself as a rider and know how much passion and ambition there is within this organisation.”

Van Hooydonck takes over a role vacated by Jacco Verhaeren and previously held by Merijn Zeeman. He will lead Visma’s Sport Management Team, which includes heading of racing Marc Reef, head of performance Mathieu Heijboer, head of development Robbert de Groot, head of strategy Patrick Broe, and CEO Richard Plugge.

According to Visma’s statement, Van Hooydonck is “responsible for defining and monitoring the team’s key sporting objectives.”

Visma’s management already underwent a significant change in the summer when Grischa Niermann departed for Lidl-Trek, with Reef promoted to replace him as head of racing. Van Hooydonck’s appointment was hailed by Plugge.

“He not only knows our culture, he also acts accordingly and embodies it,” Plugge said. “Drawing on his experience within the Business Team, he has learned in a short time to look beyond just the sporting aspect and to see the connection with the rest of our organisation. 

“That gives us the confidence that he will fill this role very well. Moreover, he is certainly not alone. With Mathieu Heijboer, among others – who has been a key factor for years and will continue to be so for the future – Nathan can rely on a wealth of knowledge and experience.”

On Monday, Wielerflits reported that Van Hooydonck is not the only addition to Visma’s management team, with Engels set to return to the squad after a season with Tudor.

Engels began his career as a rider in 2000 with Visma’s predecessor Rabobank, and he rejoined the set-up as a sports director in 2016 after a successful spell in the team car at Giant-Alpecin. The Dutchman spent ten seasons as part of the Visma management before leaving for Tudor last winter. “They were ten fantastic years, but at this point in my career as a sports director, I felt I was ready for a new step,” Engels told Wielerflits at the time of the move.

Visma have so far announced two new riders for 2027, with Mark Donovan joining from Pinarello-Q36.5 and Matisse Van Kerckhove moving up from the development team.

In 2026, Visma have won 50 races, including the Giro d’Italia through Jonas Vingegaard and Paris-Roubaix through Wout van Aert. They also scored a team record seven stage wins on the Vuelta a España through Van Aert and Matthew Brennan.