Teams & Riders Team Visma - Lease a Bike

[Ricco']

As for the Saudis, I don't know whether he wanted their money. I do know the merger with Soudal was presented as an attempt to do battle against the oil rich teams on an equal footing.

He is/was one of the major promoters of saudi-backed One Cycling.

 

[Rackham]

He is/was one of the major promoters of saudi-backed One Cycling.

Okay then.

That is indeed funny (or tragic?) but I sort of noped out when I noticed BLM on #SiempreGino's profile. I think when the messenger (aka the one digging up dirt) is not exactly impartial (& be honest folks, a huge number of people on the 'other side' - especially in the Netherlands - would have some pretty strong opinions about that)... then yeah, I'm not interested.

Plugge has many issues but I'm not going to jump head first into a political quagmire. If he or others want to fight on social media over B.S. that's their business, aka something I consider really bad business.

Unless of course Plugge now has sponsors which sort of agree with that political angle, at which point... anything is possible.

 

[scribers]

The guy liking political posts is an objective observation regardless of who might point it out.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

MODERATOR HAT ON:
Plugge is a big player in the sport: it seems fair to discuss that he has made some sort of political statement. But that is not licence to move into discussion of that organisation or those with contrary views here.

 

[Rackham]

The guy liking political posts is an objective observation regardless of who might point it out.

Nah, not in 2024.

Political sh*tstirring cuts all ways. It's always one side picking on the other & vice versa. I noticed that same account posting some other provocative stuff & attempting to create user engagement based on political partisanship.

I just don't think walking into modern Netherlands & saying "OMG look at how bad Richard Plugge is because of his shitty political views!" would have any effect whatsoever. Maybe in some echo chambers but among the general public or cycling fans? No.

I'm not picking sides here either, I'm just stating a neutral fact.

MODERATOR HAT ON:
Plugge is a big player in the sport: it seems fair to discuss that he has made some sort of political statement. But that is not licence to move into discussion of that organisation or those with contrary views here.

I think the issue is the fact he really didn't make a political statement. Someone just fished into his likes & said that means he supports a whole bunch of other stuff by association.

It's... just boring & derails proper conversation about Plugge & his team.

 

[scribers]

Yes. It is an objective observation in any era. By definition. You cannot define it as on anyone else. The guy is like far right content.

Now for the subjective part. Does it make him a bad manager? Not in principle. But he might have riders who feel differently. He might have sponsors who don't like paying people who alienate entire swaths of their brand audiences.

 

[Rackham]

Yes. It is an objective observation in any era. By definition. You cannot define it as on anyone else. The guy is like far right content.

Now for the subjective part. Does it make him a bad manager? Not in principle. But he might have riders who feel differently. He might have sponsors who don't like paying people who alienate entire swaths of their brand audiences.

The guy fishing for "far right stuff" had to search through old likes on Plugge's account. That in & of itself takes some sort of interesting motivation to find dirt. I just for the sake of it had a little look myself & found all sorts of stuff, including support for Israel's fight against Hamas.

From a neutral standpoint the 'worst' Plugge might have done is not paid attention to some of the other stuff some of those accounts posted (i.e. something which can happen whenever you like a post, aka the person who posted that might have other stuff you don't agree with). In that respect as a boss of a large company he should probably be more careful.

But the actual contents of Plugge's likes don't seem to be politically controversial i.e. it all falls within current accepted discourse & opinions tbh.

Maybe some people don't like him, I'm not here to judge. But I do fightback of sorts against attempts to make a mountain out of a molehill considering what the political landscape is in the real world. I'll take a wild guess here & say most 'normies' wouldn't give a sh*t about the stuff #SiempreGino seems to think merits some sort of 'outrage'.

 

[scribers]

https://twitter.com/RichardPlugge

It's this account in question, right? If so, that's a public account tied directly to the team. Claims to be communications too right in the profile.

Nah man, there is nothing normal about him doing that. Even associating with something called 'endislam' sends a terrible message on behalf of the team with his account.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Maybe they invite Roglič back with "you can have your sole leadership role in TdF now!".

Yup, they will loan Rogla only for the Tour! Bora will get some pocket money for it and Hindley will lead the team. Everybody happy.

 

[Gratemans]

just don't think walking into modern Netherlands & saying "OMG look at how bad Richard Plugge is because of his shitty political views!" would have any effect whatsoever.

I'm Dutch, and no, it doesn't have any effect on me. Because I've always thought of Plugge as an enormous douchebag.

I don't know who that Gino twitter guy is btw and yeah, I understand your aversion to the social media warriors who want to cancel everyone that doesn't agree with them. I just came here to say that Plugge is an ass hat.
(And ok.. what he's retweeting doesn't really help to improve my view of him either)

 

[Tim Cahill]

 

[bNator]

Certainly Roglic didn’t wanted to go as a superdomestique of Vingegaard to the Tour 2024, because it was the only way for him to make part of the team.

He did the right thing, moving to Bora.

I agree it was the right thing to do to switch teams and of course, he didn’t want to be superdomestique. But there’s a big difference between being co-leader (or even just protected rider) and superdomestique.

 

[Froome]

I agree it was the right thing to do to switch teams and of course, he didn’t want to be superdomestique. But there’s a big difference between being co-leader (or even just protected rider) and superdomestique.

Yes, but being co-leader would never happen because this is different from 2022. Now, Vingegaard won 2 Tours in a row, so he had the legitimacy to earn and demand 7 riders working exclusively for him.

The opposite aplies to Roglic in Bora. He will have 7 riders working exclusively for him.

 

[bNator]

Yes, but being co-leader would never happen because this is different from 2022. Now, Vingegaard won 2 Tours in a row, so he had the legitimacy to earn and demand 7 riders working exclusively for him.

The opposite aplies to Roglic in Bora. He will have 7 riders working exclusively for him.

Good. Now stop provoking unnecessarily by claiming stuff you obviously know not to be true…

 

[Froome]

Good. Now stop provoking unnecessarily by claiming stuff you obviously know not to be true…

What provocation? What is the secret?

Obviously Roglic let Visma because he wouldn't never get leadership or co-leadership with Vingegaard, and because at the same time if he wants to win the Tour before the end of his career, he needs a undisputed leadership to maximize his chances.

I wasn't provoking anybody, but you can think what you want.

 

[bNator]

What provocation? What is the secret?

Obviously Roglic let Visma because he wouldn't never get leadership or co-leadership with Vingegaard, and because at the same time if he wants to win the Tour before the end of his career, he needs a undisputed leadership to maximize his chances.

I wasn't provoking anybody, but you can think what you want.

Ok, fair enough, maybe you weren’t. But I do think the main reason for his departure was not lack of undisputed leadership status - if they let him go to TdF as a protected rider, I think he would stay. And make a mistake by doing so because (and here I agree with you) his chances are way up now that he’s undisputed leader at Bora.

 

[Mayomaniac]

La Gazzetta is still fantasizing about van Aert riding the Giro...
If Vinge isn't ready it will be free for all for stages for Wout, Kuss, Son Jorge and others.

 

[Netserk]

La Gazzetta is still fantasizing about van Aert riding the Giro...
If Vinge isn't ready it will be free for all for stages for Wout, Kuss, Son Jorge and others.

I still think it's more likely that Van Aert rides the Giro than the Tour. But no decision needs to be made yet.

 

[scribers]

I will eat my hat if wva does anything significant at the giro. Other than a demonstration of in-recovery from that terrible crash.

I can only think he wants to claim his appearance fee.

 

[noob]

Twitter algorithms are changed lately so there's a "for you" option that shows things the algorithms believes is interesting and hence one doesn't check the account but just likes a tweet passing by.

The only ones gaining anything from cancel/outrage culture are people gaining money from the algorithms. If even that. Been there done that how pointless 😴

 

[DNP-Old]

Ploegmanager somber over Giro voor Van Aert en Tour voor Vingegaard: “Kort dag voor Wout, Jonas nog in ziekenhuis”

Visma - Lease a Bike won ook in 2024 niet de Ronde en Roubaix, maar de Nederlandse ploeg heeft momenteel andere/grotere zorgen. Sportief manager Merijn Zeeman: “Voor Wout begint het heel kort dag te worden voor de Giro. Jonas ligt nog steeds in het ziekenhuis. Onze eerste hoogtestage voor de...

www.hln.be

- Wout is yet to start training
- In case of a Giro participation, Visma has set a minimum of two weeks training at volume
- A no for the Giro more likely than a yes at this current time
- Does not want to go to the Tour regardless of Vingegaard
- Vingegaard was in intensive care due to internal bleeding and not all medical procedures and interventions have taken place yet
- Will not go to Visma's first altitude camp in May
- A no for the Tour more likely than a yes at this current time
- Roglic, might as well still include him here, can't train for a week due to knee issues
- Roglic is very likely to miss at least one of the Ardennes races, could even miss them all

 

[stonerider]

At least they have Mateo for the Tour. If he trains properly, he can beat Roglic and Remco like at Paris Nice and come away with 2nd place. Vinge, Remco, and Primoz likely won't be in top shape for the TdF.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Ploegmanager somber over Giro voor Van Aert en Tour voor Vingegaard: “Kort dag voor Wout, Jonas nog in ziekenhuis”

Visma - Lease a Bike won ook in 2024 niet de Ronde en Roubaix, maar de Nederlandse ploeg heeft momenteel andere/grotere zorgen. Sportief manager Merijn Zeeman: “Voor Wout begint het heel kort dag te worden voor de Giro. Jonas ligt nog steeds in het ziekenhuis. Onze eerste hoogtestage voor de...

www.hln.be

- Wout is yet to start training
- In case of a Giro participation, Visma has set a minimum of two weeks training at volume
- A no for the Giro more likely than a yes at this current time
- Does not want to go to the Tour regardless of Vingegaard
- Vingegaard was in intensive care due to internal bleeding and not all medical procedures and interventions have taken place yet
- Will not go to Visma's first altitude camp in May
- A no for the Tour more likely than a yes at this current time
- Roglic, might as well still include him here, can't train for a week due to knee issues
- Roglic is very likely to miss at least one of the Ardennes races, could even miss them all

Ouch. His diagnosis is getting worse and worse, start to fear end of the season for him.
I think WVA can still make it, just needs to get on the bike in one week.

 

[Froome]

At least they have Mateo for the Tour. If he trains properly, he can beat Roglic and Remco like at Paris Nice and come away with 2nd place. Vinge, Remco, and Primoz likely won't be in top shape for the TdF.

Just like Pogacar.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Just like Pogacar.

Pog doesn't need to be in top shape to beat Mateo.