Visma-Lease a Bike's victory in the opening team time trial stage of the Tour de France and Jonas Vingegaard's spell in the leader's yellow jersey have boosted their hopes of securing an extra title sponsor for 2027 so they can continue to compete with the sport's super teams.
Tadej Pogačar may have snatched the yellow jersey from Vingegaard by winning stage 3 to Les Angles in the Pyrenees, but it has been a hugely successful start to the Tour for Visma-Lease a Bike.
Visma beat UAE to win the Barcelona TTT and put Vingegaard in the yellow jersey. It is estimated the victory generated a media value of around $4 million.
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EF Education-EasyPost manager Jonathan Vaughters, who is also looking for a new title sponsor to compete as a super team, suggested earlier this year that Ben Healy's 2025 Tour de France stage win and spell in yellow, combined with their 2025 WorldTour season, generated a partnership value of $114 million, according to Nielsen data.
Visma-Lease a Bike's numbers were probably far higher, with pro cycling still considered a good investment even as sponsorship budgets rise.
Norwegian software company Visma is believed to spend around 15 million each year on naming rights but is unwilling to further increase its sponsorship to compete in a financial arms race with rival Grand Tour-contender teams such as UAE Team Emirates-XRG, Lidl-Trek, Netcompany-Ineos and Decathlon CMA CGM.
The average men's WorldTour team budget in 2025 was €32 million according to UCI data, with UAE at the top of the list at €60 million. Visma-Lease a Bike, has a budget close to €40 million.
Visma's decision has forced Visma-Lease a Bike team manager Richard Plugge to return to the global sponsorship market.
"Visma is our lead sponsor, our number one sponsor, and we want to keep that as long as possible, but we've had really good talks with many different people," Plugge told Cyclingnews during the opening stages of the Tour de France.
"The search is going well, and we have a lot of interest in our team, which I think is rightfully so. I think we are one of the best sponsorship opportunities in sports.
"If you're a sponsor and want to be with a team that is strong in Grand Tours, then you should be with us. A lot of companies recognise that, and that's nice, because it makes my life easy.
"We have the highest reach on socials, we have the biggest engagement everywhere, we're the biggest team in so many aspects, even outside the racing. We want to keep it that way."
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