Visma-Lease a Bike reportedly seeking new title sponsor with Visma set to take a step back

Visma-Lease a Bike are reportedly seeking a new title sponsor as the Dutch team seek to keep up in cycling's budgetary arms race with other top teams including UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, Decathlon-CMA CGM, and Lidl-Trek.

According to a report by the Dutch website WielerFlits on Wednesday, team title sponsor Visma, a Norwegian business software company, is not prepared to continue increasing its budget and will instead "take a step back" from the team, without pulling away entirely.

The Dutch team are looking to continue competing with the sport's other 'super-teams', including UAE, backed by the oil-rich Middle Eastern state, and Red Bull, Decathlon, and Lidl, who are all owned by their title sponsors and so can pour further funding into the squads.

WielerFlits reports that Visma-Lease a Bike aren't in danger of folding or ceasing operations; the team will continue with its current range of sponsors, including Lease a Bike, Rabobank and PON, which owns Cervélo. However, in order to stay competitive at the very top of the sport, higher budgets are needed in the coming years.

The website reports that team CEO Richard Plugge has "held several discussions with multinationals" which are interested in taking on a title sponsorship role.

The average men's WorldTour team budget in 2025 was €32 million, with UAE at the top of the list at €60 million. The biggest teams in the sport, including Visma, have budgets over €40 million.

Money in Sport's report on Visma-Lease a Bike's finances showed that the team – including the women's and development squads – had revenues of €52 million in 2024, with operating costs of almost €59 million, resulting in a €6 million loss.

Both Visma and Lease a Bike are on board as sponsors after signing permanent contracts with the team in 2024. Both companies will remain on board with the team, though Visma won't continue to increase sponsorship budgets year after year, and so will take a step back.

This could be in part due to Visma's planned IPO, where a private company issues shares for sale publicly, reports WielerFlits, with the company revising its sponsorship approach in anticipation of the move.

The company could, however, postpone the IPO in light of poor results from other software companies on stock exchanges around the world, according to The Financial Times.

Cyclingnews has reached out to Visma-Lease a Bike for comment.