Significant testimonies are emerging from Picnic-PostNL. These are not mere rumors but accusations from 71 people, who claimed: "We lived in a climate of fear". And former rider Tusveld: "I thought about harming myself".
A work environment described as toxic, marked by fear and rigid rules. This is the picture that emerged from an investigation by Dutch media outlets NOS and In De Waaier into the cycling team Picnic-PostNL, a formation competing in the WorldTour. In recent months, journalists collected testimonies from 71 people, including current employees and former collaborators, as well as riders and coaches.
Among them is Martijn Tusveld, who left professional cycling in 2025. After racing for the team until 2024, the thirty-three-year-old Dutch rider recounts how he began to fear the consequences of his words after criticizing the team's tactics during the 2020 Giro d'Italia. The team, he reports, accused him of contributing to a "negative atmosphere". "I started to be afraid," he told NOS. "I thought: I'll stay quiet and say yes to everything". Tusveld says he adopted that attitude for the following years and reveals he also had thoughts of self-harm.
The other testimonies collected describe an environment in which dissent would have been discouraged and collaboration between riders and coaches limited. A former rider speaks of a sort of "tyranny". Adriaan Helmantel, a former coach who also worked with Tom Dumoulin, claims that coaches were no longer allowed to freely discuss matters with each other or with the athletes. "It became a dictatorship", he states.
According to Helmantel, the team feared that a close relationship between coach and rider could remove control from the structure. The testimonies thus outline a model little inclined toward individual paths, in which athletes would have had to adhere to common and rigid rules. NOS and In De Waaier requested a comment from team manager Iwan Spekenbrink, who chose not to make any statements regarding the accusations.
The matter comes as the team is going through a difficult sporting season: the tally stands at three victories, namely the fifth stage of the Tour of Turkey won by Casper van Uden, the Paris-Chauny won by Pavel Bittner, and the second stage of the Tour of Guangxi, signed by Frits Biesterbos. In the UCI ranking, the team has slipped to 30th place.