Grischa Niermann leaves Visma | Lease a Bike for Lidl-Trek, Marc Reef takes over

Grischa Niermann is leaving Visma | Lease a Bike. The Head of Racing of the Dutch team is moving to Lidl-Trek, where he will take on a similar role with the men's WorldTour team. Just a year and a half ago, Niermann successfully took over the position from Merijn Zeeman, making his sudden departure from team management all the more surprising. Marc Reef will be promoted within the squad and will become the new sporting architect of the team.

Behind the scenes, Niermann grew under Merijn Zeeman to become the first sports director within the yellow-black formation. When Zeeman accepted an offer to become general manager at football club AZ, it was immediately clear internally that Niermann would fill the vacant role. Under the leadership of the German ex-pro, who raced for Rabobank for fourteen years, the team remained extremely successful. Under his guidance, the team won the Giro d’Italia twice, the Vuelta a España, and Paris-Roubaix.

Although the news hits internally like a bombshell, Niermann can look back on a rich history with the team and its predecessors. After his active cycling career, he was responsible for the Rabobank development team for three years. In 2017, he then made the jump to the WorldTeam, which at the time raced under the name LottoNL-Jumbo. Niermann raised the professionalism within the team management to a higher level and was known from day one for his meticulous and perfect race preparations.

Just like after Zeeman’s earlier departure, Visma | Lease a Bike is choosing to solve this change internally. Marc Reef moves up the hierarchy and becomes the new Head of Cycling. Reef worked at Iwan Spekenbrink’s team from 2012 through 2021, where he was directly involved in the many successes of big names such as Tom Dumoulin, Marcel Kittel, John Degenkolb, Warren Barguil, and Michael Matthews.

In 2022, Reef made the move to strengthen the sporting staff of Visma | Lease a Bike. He has developed within the team over the past few years. Last year and this year, he was sportingly responsible for the squad that won the Giro d’Italia. Last season, he was also one of the sports directors in the Tour de France, working alongside Niermann.

Lidl-Trek’s new signing of Niermann is a logical continuation of the new direction the team has taken. In October 2025, supermarket chain Lidl acquired a majority stake in the team. Since then, a major transformation has been underway behind the scenes and on the sporting front to become the absolute number one cycling team in the world. The team’s base has now moved to Germany, and there have also been significant shifts at the management level.

By signing Niermann, Lidl-Trek gains a huge amount of expertise. Since 2019, the Dutch team, with Niermann playing a prominent role, has won no fewer than ten grand tours. It is precisely in that area that Lidl-Trek’s major ambitions lie for the coming years.