‘We walked into a kind of ambush’ - Zonneveld says reporters were intimidated at Picnic PostNL headquarters

Picnic PostNL staff surrounded a group of journalists at the team’s service course on Wednesday, according to Thijs Zonneveld, of the In de Waaier podcast, and one of the reporters behind the investigation into the team’s culture published a day later.

Zonneveld and the NOS team had emailed 23 questions on Monday and travelled to Deventer to allow the team to give their own account. However the meeting became tense.

“We walked into a kind of an ambush, where we had 25 people around us in the central hall of the service course. People were shouting things at us, Marloes Poelman, one of the managers, tried to take a phone away,” Zonneveld told WielerFlits in a video interview at the Eneco Tour.

The team dispute the account, saying it was unclear whether Zonneveld had kept to the arrangements made beforehand. They also say they offered NOS a meeting to discuss the team’s philosophy and vision, which the broadcaster declined. No one from the management answered the questions submitted on Monday.

“In the end the leadership of the team was not prepared to respond. Not to questions, not on substance and certainly not on camera. Then it stops. Then we also cannot include their perspective,” Zonneveld said.

He was surprised that team staff surrounded him.

“Even though there may be people among them who have also spoken to us, they are actually dependent in their working relationship because they are employed by that team. I find that really very painful and very telling,” Zonneveld said.

Zonneveld presents the In de Waaier podcast and raced professionally. He also works in the sporting management of BEAT CC p/b Saxo. He is often outspoken but considered well-formed about the sport.

The investigation itself rested on confidential interviews with 71 current and former employees and set out allegations of a culture of fear under team manager Iwan Spekenbrink and sport director Rudi Kemna. 

Spekenbrink declined to comment, in person or in writing for the investigation. Only former rider Martijn Tusveld and Adriaan Helmantel, a coach at the team from 2013 to 2018, spoke on the record, criticising a change in mentality in the team. 

Helmantel claimed the team became a "dictatorship" after its early success, with team management controlling and limiting rider input. Tusveld revealed that he suffered with mental illness after his career. 

Picnic PostNL announced an independent investigation after publication of the investigation, saying it does not recognise the overall picture presented.

“That experiences vary does nothing to detract from the seriousness of the stories that have now come out,” the statement read.

"The fact that experiences differ does not diminish the seriousness of the accounts that have now come to light. We will therefore commission an independent investigation into how our team culture is experienced in practice and to what extent it reflects the culture we strive for."