Shortly before the start of the Tour de France 2026, co-favorite Jonas Vingegaard’s team is shaken by a real personnel shock. According to consistent media reports, race director Grischa Niermann will lead the Visma | team Leave Lease a Bike and switch to the competition.
As the Dutch specialist portal “Wielerflits” and the Belgian newspaper “Het Laatste Nieuws” both report, race director Grischa Niermann is leaving the Visma | team Lease a Bike and moves to the Lidl-Trek team, where the German ex-professional will take over the position of General Manager.
This change had apparently not been announced in advance. At least “Wielerflits” writes of an “internal bomb” that burst.
“I was of course surprised when Grischa informed me of his decision to leave us a few weeks ago,” CEO Richard Plugge confirmed the departure in a media round on Tuesday.
Visma is once again relying on an internal solution
Niermann had only taken over the position of race director from Merijn Zeeman around a year and a half ago, after he had moved away from professional football and taken on an official position there. Before his promotion, Niermann served as team manager at Visma.
At least the team leadership is not completely unprepared for Niermann’s farewell. According to reports, it has already been decided who will be his successor. The decision was made again for an internal solution; Marc Reef, who has worked his way up the team’s hierarchy little by little over the last few years, is to be promoted.
Niermann’s move is also likely to be related to the increased influence of the supermarket chain Lidl at his new employer. It was only last year that the group took over the majority of the racing team. Since then, numerous changes have been initiated. Both in terms of personnel and logistics. Among other things, the team’s headquarters were moved to German soil. Many new staff were also hired at management level.