Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Visma-Lease a Bike lead director and grand tour mastermind Merijn Zeeman will leave the squad this winter.
Visma-Lease a Bike confirmed Wednesday the news first broken by BNR and Wielerflits that Zeeman, 45, will see through this season with his long-time team before taking a role with AZ Alkmaar football club.
Zeeman led the team through its two Tour de France titles and was there to oversee its grand tour grand slam last season.
“This is a difficult decision, which I also take with pain in my heart, because I have this great organization so close to my heart,” Zeeman said in a team statement Wednesday.
“Visma-Lease a Bike is my family, which I have lovingly put my heart and soul into for 13 years. But I also believe that it is good for everyone’s development to take on new challenges over time,” he said.
“Continuing my career at football club AZ is my next step and I dare to take that step because I leave this strong professional organization, led by my good friend [team CEO] Richard Plugge, in the capable hands of my colleagues.”
Zeeman is at the core of the stage race-smashing Visma-Lease a Bike squad.
His exit will be a huge blow for the Dutch dominator in the coming years as it looks to maintain its seat at the top of the WorldTour and fend off a stack of rising “super teams”.
So many memories already and more to come. ❤️ For all the TVL people. https://t.co/o9UCCtLx5I
— Merijn Zeeman (@merijnzeeman) April 3, 2024
Zeeman, who counts two decades of directing experience on his resumé, has been at the center of the Visma set-up since its earliest days.
He and team CEO Plugge joined Belkin Pro Cycling in 2013 as it sought to reboot from the Rabobank era.
The two Dutchmen slowly winched the team from the bottom echelon of the WorldTour to a modern steamroller headed up by grand tour champions Jonas Vingegaard and Sepp Kuss, and all-terrain megastar Wout van Aert.
“Merijn is very, very important for the team,” Vingegaard told the press before the news was confirmed Wednesday. “He’s been a big part of the team for the whole time I’ve been here, and before that. It will be a big loss if he moves on.”
Incredible. We have once again achieved something that has never been achieved before. So proud of this fantastic group of riders and a fantastic team around the team❤️ #sportshistory https://t.co/6lJpD7uj0G
— Merijn Zeeman (@merijnzeeman) March 10, 2024
Visma-Lease a Bike has a deep bench of experienced sport directors ready to step into Zeeman’s shoes next season. German staffer Grischa Niermann has also been with the Visma franchise for more than a decade and could be first in line.
“Merijn’s departure hurts on the one hand, but at the same time we have great confidence in our organization, which is solid as a rock,” Plugge said Wednesday.
“In the coming months we will clarify how our organization will be further structured towards the future and, as always, we will start internally,” Plugge continued. “Of course we will also do everything together to make 2024 a successful year. We are now looking forward to that even more.”
Zeeman was noted for bringing influence from other sports into the Visma team.
He cites Ajax soccer club and the New Zealand “All Blacks” rugby team as influences, and hosts his own “Game Changers” podcast discussing pioneering sporting strategies and training methods.
Only last month, Zeeman had hinted football was in his future, but shot down suggestions a move to AZ Alkmaar – the team of his hometown – was on the cards.
“I play seven-a-side on Friday evenings, but my son thinks I can’t do anything,” he told Wielerflits. “Football is a vert nice sport. I definitely think that I would like to make the move to football at some point, but that is not current at the moment.”
Zeeman believed his visionary approach with Visma-Lease a Bike – a type of maxed-out Team Sky marginal gains – could be translated across to other sports.
“It’s about the way of thinking – always trying to find new ways and not getting stuck in the way things always happened before,” he said.
“Dare to be critical,” Zeeman said last month. “That’s how we succeeded. Also by involving people from outside of cycling.”