Grischa Niermann has been doing his current job for a few years, and he’s actually gained a reputation as a comparatively calm and relaxed sports director in the peloton. But this summer, a new side has revealed itself to him. Shortly before the start of the Tour de France, Netflix released its documentary series, for which it followed the peloton during the previous year’s tour – and quite often, and more often than any other sports director, Niermann can be heard shouting a vigorous “fuck”. shouts out.
He actually has little reason to quarrel. Niermann, born in Hanover, is currently the most successful German in the tour peloton in a certain way. No German has worn the yellow jersey since 2015 (Tony Martin), and no German has won the Tour since 1997 (Jan Ullrich). But if such a Maillot Jaune were torn to shreds and then distributed to everyone who had a stake in it, Niermann could claim a few square centimeters for himself. Because he is the sports director of the Equipe Jumbo-Visma, which has been dominant for several years, for which the Dane Jonas Vingegaard won the tour in 2022 and also conquered yellow early on in this year’s loop. And behind pioneer Merijn Zeeman, Niermann is practically number two in the team’s sporting entourage.
On the rest day at the beginning of the tour week, Niermann received the team hotel for a lengthy conversation (and didn’t say “fuck” once). He is now 47 years old and his stature has changed almost nothing compared to when he was an active racing driver. He seems very calm, and he has reason to be content. Captain Vingegaard wears yellow, the team can hope he suits the difficult Alpine block that starts with the drive up the Grand Colombier this Friday better than challenger Tadej Pogacar. Jumbo may then be able to play to the strength of the team even more than before – and whether that succeeds also depends on Niermann’s work. He will then be back in the car behind the peloton, trying to read the race and directing his eight riders. Niermann says about his job: “The subject has changed a lot in recent years.”
The role of sports director is not a clearly defined task and is practiced differently from team to team. Like so much in cycling, the nineties and noughties shaped the image of function; back then, figures like Walter Godefroot (Team Telekom) set the tone. “It used to be a one-man show at the big events, but today you get a lot more input from the side, which is also much more involved in the decision-making process. All the scientists have a lot more influence,” says Rolf Aldag, who is in charge Head of sports at the German team Bora Niermann’s colleague and competitor: You’re sort of the “CEO of the sporting event”.
Niermann’s work as manager begins months before the Tour de France
For Niermann, what has changed over the years is what he calls “coaching”. Of course, everything to do with race tactics and design is important for a sports director, and not just during the hours of a race. The work, says Niermann, begins a few months before the tour. Then he drives as many kilometers of the route as possible, collects all possible information, identifies and discusses possible points of attack for the race. And no later than the evening before the stage, they fix exactly which driver should lead how many kilometers and when, things like that. Niermann sees itself as a kind of service provider. “I don’t want to stand in front of the drivers and say: Sorry, I should have known that there could still be a wind edge.”
At the same time, Niermann believes that the topic of “coaching” is just as important as the race tactics, appropriate group leadership. For him, it’s also about creating a good mood and “listening to everyone”; every evening he tries to speak to each of his drivers. At Jumbo, the past few days have been shaped by the question of how the relationship between yellow wearer Vingegaard and all-rounder Wout Van Aert is, not least because of the Netflix series in which animosities were hinted at. The two are friends, says Niermann, but “it doesn’t leave the boys unaffected either, because they’re confronted with it day and night.”
Niermann’s style seems to be well received in the field of drivers. “He stands behind his athletes and sometimes says that maybe it was his mistake,” says opponent Aldag: “I also value him as a colleague because he’s honest. He’s not someone who tells you stories and tries to fool you from behind .”
Open detailed view
Grischa Niermann, here in 2010, in the jersey of the Dutch racing team Rabobank, which later became the Jumbo-Visma team.
(Photo: Mario Stiehl/Imago)
Whereby the honesty in Niermann’s biography is such a thing. Like many other sporting leaders in the peloton, he is a child of that doping-infested time, the side effects of which continue to have an impact today. From 1999 to 2012 he was a professional, a classic helper, nine times on the tour, all the time with Team Rabobank, where systematic doping was eventually found and from whose rubble the Jumbo team emerged. When everything blew up, Niermann also admitted to having consumed Epo a few times. Is that at least a topic in the team?
Jumbo uses ketones – but they are not forced on anyone, says Niermann
“When I started in the youth team, it was important for me to say: That’s how it was, and unfortunately I was also part of it, and now I want to make sure that you don’t get into that situation again,” says Niermann; but now that’s really no longer an issue, and that’s quite astonishing. And he doesn’t see the many doping offenders in the entourage as a problem either. It’s more of a “media problem,” he replies. You can’t exclude everyone from your generation, “you wouldn’t find enough sports directors anymore. I hope that they will all be purified and not take the path as sports directors that they went as athletes.”
Especially with Jumbo, borderline medical issues sometimes shine through. The team is one of those who use artificial ketones: the substance is not banned, but even the world cycling association recommended not using it last year; Experts point out that the consequences have not been sufficiently researched. “No one is forced to do that, and if someone says they have concerns, that’s absolutely fine,” says Niermann – but at the same time defends the mission: if some teams say that ketones are the reason why some are faster than others , that is “absolutely in the realm of the fable”. However, the question remains as to why you have to use them at all.
