Visma | Lease a Bike hardly dampens excitement around White Jersey Group

On Thursday, the next test is scheduled for Visma | Lease a Bike’s White Jersey Group. In the GP de Denain, the team’s young talents get the chance to race for themselves, something Matthew Brennan did with great success last year. After all, he won in northern France. He still forms a (small) part of the youth project this year as well. Grischa Niermann and Mathieu Heijboer told WielerFlits about this.

Last year, the Dutch WorldTeam secured forty wins. For 2026, Visma | Lease a Bike has set itself the goal of achieving at least 41 victories. Ten of these should come from the White Jersey Group, which is a quarter of the total. And that while finisher Matthew Brennan already excelled from that group last year. “First of all, he can follow up on himself,” says Grischa Niermann about that. “At least, that’s what I hope.”

The German emphasizes that Brennan is only part of the White Jersey Group during races that fall within that program. To reach those ten wins, the team therefore only counts the victories of the young Brit in those specific races. “If Matthew wins Milan-San Remo, the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix, of course we won't count those. But we do compete with him in quite a few races with that ambition and focus.”

Visma | Lease a Bike already announced in January that the team had revamped its race program. “Of course with the goal of achieving our main objectives, but also to develop our young riders,” says Head of Coaching Mathieu Heijboer about that change. “We need a strong focus on the future, with a significantly renewed group, a refreshed selection featuring many young riders. Hopefully, these are the point scorers and stars of tomorrow.”

Niermann – Head of Racing at Visma | Lease a Bike – looks forward to the second year of the White Jersey project with great enthusiasm. “We’ve added several promising talents again and already had riders on board who will make even more progress. Ben Tulett is someone who is getting better and better. Louis Barré is a very interesting rider for us. We have a lot of young or fairly young men who we believe can truly take the next step.”

Loss of Van der Sande and Vermote
The talent group was able to rely on experienced riders like Tosh Van der Sande and Julien Vermote last year, whom Visma | Lease a Bike has since parted ways with. “We still have a very experienced group,” Heijboer emphasizes. “Look at Steven Kruijswijk, Wilco Kelderman. But also Bart Lemmen is a guy who has developed incredibly quickly within our formation. He’s actually someone in our team that our young riders can already look up to.”

“Moreover, Bart is very strong communicatively, so he can convey things well,” Heijboer continues. “Together with Steven and Wilco, those are a few men who are very valuable. In addition, we have brought in another experienced rider, Owain Doull, who can fulfill this role. So in that regard, we again have a group of riders who can guide our young talents by the hand. And hopefully lead them to a successful career.”

On Thursday, the White Jersey Group gets another opportunity this season at the GP de Denain. In northern France, Per Strand Hagenes and Axel Zingle – with his 27 years somewhat the odd one out – are normally the lead riders. Loe van Belle and Piettro Mattio are also there representing the pro team, complemented by talents Ashlin Barry and the in-form Matisse Van Kerckhove from the development team.