In this rerun of a standout episode from October 2023, Ronan Mc Laughlin and Caley Fretz sit down with Mathieu Heijboer, Head of Performance at Visma-Lease a Bike, for an in-depth look at what makes the most dominant team in men’s cycling that year tick.

From the team’s humble, winless days in 2015 to their Grand Tour-conquering present, Heijboer shares the inside story of that transformation.

The conversation covers the team’s three core performance pillars: training, equipment, and nutrition and how a shared philosophy, built on collaboration and constant refinement, underpins every decision. Heijboer breaks down the team’s use of data analysis, altitude and heat training, metabolic profiling, and their careful vetting of wearable tech and equipment partnerships.

This episode offers rare insight into how Visma structure their training camps, manage talent, and make performance-led decisions.

Marginal gains have shaped modern performance cycling, but have we gone too far and are they now inadvertently and unwittingly costing us performance?

In this episode, Caley Fretz flips the script to interview Ronan Mc Laughlin about his deep-dive investigation into how the once-transformative philosophy of stacking small advantages has evolved into a marketing arms race.

Together, they explore the unintended consequences of chasing ever-smaller improvements: compromised fit, overlooked fundamentals, misleading marketing, and the fear of missing out that drives unnecessary upgrades. From integrated cockpits to the psychology of performance, this candid conversation asks whether we’re still gaining, or just hoping not to fall behind.