Alpecin-Deceuninck

Alpecin-Deceuninck are a Belgian outfit who first burst onto the scene in 2019 when they turned their focus from CX to road racing, and have quickly grown into one of the most important squads in the WorldTour

They immediately caused waves in the pro peloton, taking an impressive 21 wins in 2019 - despite a limited road programme - and a further 16 in 2020. The majority of these big wins came courtesy of their darling Dutchman, Mathieu van der Poel. 

While Van der Poel may still call the shots at the team, he’s not the only rider who has tasted a lot of success in Alpecin’s navy colours. Sprinter Jasper Philipsen is their second star and quickly staking claim as the best sprinter in the world, with six Tour de France stages and countless other victories to his name in the last two years. 

The team stepped up to WorldTour level for 2023, and welcomed in a host of new riders with that change, including Kaden Groves, who would go on to win stages at the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a España in 2023.

In 2024, the team are settling into WorldTour status, and will once again chase big goals with Van der Poel, Philipsen and Groves. They made modest signings over the winter, mainly moving riders up from their development team, but have welcomed Stan Van Tricht from Soudal Quick-Step and Juri Hollman from Movistar as they look to build a stronger and more varied team.

Tech

Pro Bikes

Vuelta a España pro bike: Kaden Groves’ Canyon Aeroad CFR

Kaden Groves wins stage 4 of Vuelta a España atop Canyon Aeroad CFR specced with Shimano Dura-Ace components.

Kaden Groves' Canyon Aeroad CFR bike for the Vuelta a España

. Most have skipped the race due to the gruelling route, but a handful have braved the vicious Spanish climbs for the rare sprint opportunities at the race.

 (Alpecin-Deceuninck), and it’s already proved to be a fruitful decision for the Australian who 

. He took that win atop the Canyon Aeroad CFR, and we managed to get our hands on his bike earlier in the race. Here is the breakdown:

’s lightest ever aero road bike. It’ll be familiar to many having been ridden to plenty of success this season by 

. In 2023, together with the team, the bike has won two Monuments - Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix - one stage of the Giro d’Italia (through Groves), four stages of the Tour de France, plus the men’s road race at the World Championships. Courtesy of Groves’ victory on stage 4 of the Vuelta, it now boasts a Grand Tour clean sweep this season.

Canyon says that the bike was “developed for WorldTour wins” and that’s certainly proved to be the case this season. As is to be expected with an aero race bike, much of the performance is driven by its aerodynamic design. Developed in collaboration with aerodynamic experts Swiss Side, the German brand says that every tube and component has been optimised to reduce drag. We can’t put that to the test, but it definitely looks fast – especially at the hands of Groves.

As is becoming common as the lines between bike categories blur, the Aeroad CFR is also light - the lightest it’s ever been - saving over 200g over the previous flagship model, the CF SLX.

As a part of its collaboration with the team, Canyon has released multiple special-edition colourways of the Aeroad CFR this year, both ridden by and centred around Mathieu van der Poel. The first celebrated his 

None of those designs are on show at the Vuelta a España, with Groves and his teammates riding bikes with standard team-issue colours. The stylish design merges shades of blue and purple, closely resembling the team’s kit. It’s a great design, although it was only a blur as Groves sprinted to victory.

We encountered Groves’ bike ahead of stage 3, the day before he took his victory. That was a mountain stage, so we can be fairly certain that some elements of his bike build will have changed.

 cassette he used was probably swapped out for a more compact option, with something a little smaller than a 34t largest cog. That cassette was paired with a 54/40 Shimano Dura-Ace chainset, a common size in the pro peloton.

For the high mountains, Groves used the Shimano Dura-Ace C50 wheels. Their 50mm rims are fairly deep, although the Australian may have swapped them for the C60s for his sprint victory.

Those wheels were paired with Vittoria Corsa Pro TLR in a 28mm width, the most popular size from what we’ve seen at the race - they also have tan sidewalls which is always a winner with us.

Finishing components include Canyon’s integrated bar and stem, an area of the bike the brand put a particular focus on when developing the bike.

’s Pro Team saddle sits atop Canyon’s aero seatpost, while the team also uses Elite bottle cages.

Discover more bikes from the Vuelta a España in our pro bike section, 

Mathieu van der Poel

Jasper Philipsen

Kaden Groves

Gianni Vermeersch

Axel Laurance

Søren Kragh Andersen

Timo Kielich

Quinten Hermans

Lars Boven

Stan Van Tricht

Henri Uhlig

Robbe Ghys

Luca Vergallito

Nicola Conci

Jason Osborne

Xandro Meurisse

Jensen Plowright

Edward Planckaert

Tobias Bayer

Michael Gogl

Maurice Ballerstedt

Silvan Dillier

Oscar Riesebeek

Fabio Van den Bossche

Jonas Rickaert

Jimmy Janssens

Juri Hollmann

Ramon Sinkeldam

Senne Leysen

Samuel Gaze

Racing

Analysis

Alpecin-Deceuninck Team Talk: Best season yet for the team who just keep on improving

Finishing 1-2 at Paris-Roubaix was the biggest moment in Alpecin-Deceuninck's history to date

, once known as Corendon-Circus, were regarded as precious more than a vehicle through which 

 could play out his road cycling fantasies. The Dutchman was making a name for himself as a multidisciplinary extraordinaire in 2018 and 2019, and 

 were simply the team there to support him. 

 and a more eclectic, international cast of characters was put together by team founders Philip and Christoph Roodhooft. From a Benelux, Van der Poel-orientated team, to one that signed a host of talented riders from around the globe, Alpecin-Fenix slowly began to mould into something very different from their roots. 

Three years on and it is safe to say the transition from a plucky cyclocross crew to an all-encompassing road team is complete. 2023 marked Alpecin-Deceuninck's first year as a 

WorldTeam and saw them end the season in eighth place in the UCI rankings - not a bad effort in the slightest. 

From once being a team centred around the victories of Van der Poel, Alpecin-Deceuninck in fact found most of their wins elsewhere in 2023, whilst turning to the Dutchman for their most prestigious titles. 

A year in which they won two Monuments, several Grand Tour stages and brought the world champion's rainbow bands into the team's lineup, 2033 will be remembered very fondly by the Roodhooft brothers as a year in which their Belgian outfit earned its place amongst the elite. 

The fact that Alpecin-Deceuninck won 35 races this season is made more impressive when you note that only seven different riders contributed to that tally. That is to say, when Alpecin-Deceuninck's leaders win, they often win at will. 

The leaders in question over the past two years have been Van der Poel and 

, but the Belgian outfit was strengthened further this season by the addition of Australia's 

 rider has bolstered the team's sprinting ranks and allowed Alpecin-Deceuninck to be competitive at every Grand Tour they race in. 

Remarkably, the team's streak of winning a stage at every Grand Tour they have ever raced has continued through the year, now tallying nine Grand Tours in a row with stage victories - thanks to Groves and Philipsen this time around. 

Best men's WorldTour bikes of 2023: Which brand won the most races?

 each chipped in with a valuable win, at Eschborn-Frankfurt, the Antwerp Port Epic, ZLM Tour and Ethias-Tour de Wallonie, respectively. For Mareczko, it proved to be his final win in Alpecin-Deceuninck colours before moving to Corratec-Selle Italia, but both De Bondt and Kragh Andersen will be hoping to pick up multiple victories in 2024 - as they have done in the past. 

As for the three leaders, a slow start preceded the metaphorical floodgates opening in the Spring, with Alpecin-Deceuninck having to wait until Tirreno-Adriatico in March for their first victory of the campaign. 

Getting the team off the mark in Italy, Philipsen made light work of his sprinting competition on stages 3 and 7 to lay down an ominous marker for the season ahead. On both occasions, Van der Poel proved instrumental in the Belgian's lead-out and despite not contesting a stage win for himself at the seven-day stage race, the Dutchman's time would come just one week later. 

Already a winner of the Tour of Flanders in 2020 and 2022, Van der Poel added a second Monument to his palmarès at Milan-San Remo in March. Taking inspiration from Matej Mohorič's (Bahrain Victorious) audacious move last season, Van der Poel attacked over the top of the final climb and produced a lung-busting descent to win the first Monument of the season some 62 years after his late grandfather, Raymond Poulidor. 

A week later Van der Poel played his part in a trio of excellent days for the team that began with Groves' victory on stage 4 of the Volta a Catalunya. It was the Australian's first win of the season and much like Philipsen, it did not take him long to double up, winning stage 6 just two days later. 

In the interim day, meanwhile, Van der Poel notched up second place at E3 Saxo Classic in a race for the ages that saw him, Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) engage in a three-up sprint to the line. 

For the Milan-San Remo winner, promising signs in what is effectively the Tour of Flanders warm-up race, the E3 Saxo Classic, was followed by disappointment at the main showcase itself. This time around, it was Pogačar who got the better of Van der Poel, with a 17km solo effort that the 28-year-old could do nothing about. 

Taking a step back, two-second places are nothing for Alpecin-Deceuninck to turn their nose up at, but with a rider in the ilk of Van der Poel, the expectations are for massive victories. A sense of 'what if' may have crept in after these two races, but the WorldTeam responded in resounding fashion at Scheldeprijs and Paris-Roubaix. 

Van der Poel himself was a surprising last-minute addition to the team's Scheldeprijs lineup, but whilst the race proved as valuable kilometres in the legs ahead of the French Monument, the day was all about his supreme teammate Philipsen. 

Known as the sprinters' Classic or the World Championship for sprinters, Scheldeprijs was won by Philipsen back in 2021 and the Belgian capitalised on his superiority to edge out Sam Welsford (dsm-firmenich) and Mark Cavendish (Astana Qazaqstan) this time around. 

 sprinter to beat in 2023, Philipsen revealed himself as so much more than this at Paris-Roubaix four days later. 

Known as 'the Hell of the North' Paris-Roubaix is not a race that a hegemonic sprinter such as Cavendish could have won back in his heyday, for example, but Philipsen is a remarkable all-rounder and showed as much in Alpecin-Deceuninck's greatest day to date. 

Beginning the race with Van der Poel as their leader and possibly the race favourite, Alpecin-Deceuninck could not have dreamed of the scenario which played out on the cobbles of Northern France, in which the Dutchman soloed to a third Monument title and a determined Philipsen edged out Van Aert for second place behind. 

It was a performance that will be remembered for decades to come and saw Alpecin-Deceuninck come of age as a team for the Spring Classics. Admittedly, Van der Poel had won the Tour of Flanders twice in the past, but the manner of this victory was different and contrasted poetically with the demise of fellow Belgian WorldTeam Soudal Quick-Step, whose highest-placed rider was former Alpecin-Deceuninck man Tim Merlier in 23rd. 

Buoyed by an exceptional Spring Classics campaign, the team continued to pick up wins throughout May and June, with Groves' stage win at the Giro d'Italia a highlight, but the next big target on their calendar was the Tour de France. Carrying on from where they left at Tirreno-Adriatico, the Van der Poel-Philipsen double act came up trumps to deliver the team their best Grand Tour to date. 

This was the moment Philipsen crowned himself as the world's best sprinter. With Van der Poel's exquisite lead-outs to win four stages of the Tour and the green jersey to boot, he was simply imperious for most of the race. The only tinge of regret will come from a missed shot on the Champs-Élysées on stage 21 where he was bested, only slightly, by a flying 

Van der Poel's transition to lead-out extraordinaire was a nice, unexpected surprise this season, but did serve to mask his own inability to win a Grand Tour stage. That shortcoming was soon forgotten in August, however, when the Dutchman won the World Championship Road Race in Glasgow. The victory may not have come in Alpecin-Deceuninck colours, but the team's help was no doubt invaluable and he would line up in the rainbow bands to win the Super 8 Classic in September. 

The Spring Classics and the Tour de France were the two highlights of the season for Alpecin-Deceuninck, but the Vuelta a España and Philipsen's continued dominance rounded off a tremendous season for the team. 

At the Vuelta, Groves made the most of a poor sprinting field to win three stages and the green jersey. His transfer from Jayco-AlUla has gone down a treat for the Belgian team and, paired alongside Philipsen, offers Alpecin-Deceuninck handy versality across the three Grand Tours.

As for his fellow sprinter, Philipsen ended the season with an almighty 19 victories, including 8 from his final 14 race days. Suffice to say, he ends the season as the best sprinter in the world. 

For the budget they have and as their first season on the WorldTour, it is hard to see many ways in which Alpecin-Deceuninck could have enjoyed a better season. Sure, Mathieu van der Poel will hope to win a Grand Tour stage or two in 2024, but his Monument victories - alongside the wins picked up by Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves - make this campaign a resounding success. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck's Top Five in 2024 

There is a small changing of the guard at Alpecin-Deceuninck over the off-season, with Grand Tour stage winners Kristian Sbaragli and Stefano Oldani leaving for Corratec-Selle Italia and Cofidis, respectively. 

Pro cycling transfers – every move for the 2024 season

Fellow mature riders Jakub Mareczko, Alexander Krieger and Lionel Taminiaux are also on their way out, whilst doubts remain over the contract status of Dries De Bondt and Robert Stannard. The latter was suspended for a doping violation earlier in the year and is unlikely to return, whilst we would expect to see De Bondt, a former Belgian national champion, offered a new deal. 

In return, all eyes point to the future with a quartet of riders coming from the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team. That is not to mention the signings of Lars Woven, from Jumbo-Visma Development Team, Juri Hollmann, a 24-year-old rouleur from Movistar, and Stan Van Tricht, a 24-year-old one-day specialist from Soudal Quick-Step. 

Of those, it is probably Van Tricht who appears the most promising, having taken a plethora of podium placings at one-day races over the past few seasons without quite clinching his first pro victory. He beat Pim Ronhaar to a national race win back in May of this year, in a field that also contained former Alpecin-Deceuninck man David van der Poel, and incoming signing from the development team, Timo Kielich. 

Kielich won a stage of the Tour de Wallonie this season when riding as a stagaire for the WorldTeam, and has shown his engine at the UCI Gravel World Series to win the Gravel Fondo Limburg. He can be expected to kick on in 2024, as can fellow new recruit Henri Uhlig, who won a stage of the Baltic Chain Tour this season and finished second overall. 

Rounding out the quartet of incomings from the development team are the Italian Luca Vergallito and the current U23 men's world champion, Axel Laurance. The latter's pedigree goes without saying following his astonishing solo victory at the World Championships in Glasgow this year, whilst the former is the 2022 winner of the Zwift Academy and his perseverance has finally landed him a ride in the WorldTour at the age of 26. 

Where Alpecin-Deceuninck's wins will come in 2024 

It goes without saying that Mathieu van der Poel, Jasper Philipsen and Kaden Groves should be expected to win an array of WorldTour races in 2024. Whether it be in the Monuments with world champion Van der Poel, Grand Tour stages through Groves, or a mixture of both from the ever-reliable Philipsen, it would take a great disappointment for these three not to shine once more. 

Jasper Philipsen: I can rival Wout van Aert for every Tour de France green jersey

Away from the terrific trio, Alpecin-Deceuninck will be hoping that Søren Kragh Andersen reforms even a glimmer of the form that saw him win two stages of the Tour de France in 2020, whilst the likes of Quinten Hermans, Nicola Conci and Gianni Vermeersch can be expected to contest for the odd victory from time to time. 

With two Grand Tour stage winners out the door, however, a keen eye should be kept on the four new incomings from the Alpecin-Deceuninck Development Team. In their second year as a WorldTeam, the Belgian outfit will be looking to continue padding out their list of winners. 

Alpecin-Deceuninck's next breakout rider 

This one provokes a tough choice between Luca Vergallito and Axel Laurance. There is a lot to be said about Vergallito's persistence to win the Zwift Academy and take this unusual route to the professional ranks, whilst his supreme climbing legs were proven in winning Oberösterreich Rundfahrt earlier this year.

Pro indoor training tips from Zwift Academy winner Alex Bogna

That being said, Vergallito is 26 years of age and thus questions marked can be asked as to whether or not he has reached his ceiling as a rider. On the other hand, Laurance is somewhat the young rider of the moment at the age of 22 and rode tremendously well at the Veneto Classic last month to finish in the top 10 behind the likes of Davide Formolo and Marc Hirschi (both UAE Team Emirates). 

He may not be able to wear the U23 rainbow bands for Alpecin-Deceuninck next season, but we fancy the world champion to show himself towards the front of races as he begins to become accustomed to the WorldTour in 2024. 

How impressed have you been with Alpecin-Deceuninck's rise over the past few seasons? And do you now think they can lay claim on being the best Belgian WorldTeam in the Spring Classics, ahead of Soudal Quick-Step? Let us know in the comments! 

News

Race News

Netflix trailer reveals what to expect from series 2 of Tour de France Unchained

Netflix has given fans a taste of what to expect from series 2 of Tour de France: Unchained, the streaming giant’s follow-up to its original docu-series shining a light on the world’s biggest bike race.

Series 1 aired last June, showcasing the highs, lows, and behind-the-scenes footage of 2022 Tour de France. Series 2 was filmed soon after that release and, like last year, is set to launch just ahead of this year’s 

. There is no specific release date as it stands, and no confirmation on whether a third series will be filmed this July.

 raising his middle finger to the camera, and the rest of the minute-long teaser suggests that Netflix is leaning into the more controversial aspects of the personalities and storylines surrounding the 2023 edition of the Tour.

, his hopes of surpassing Eddy Merckx for an outright record 35th stage win gone up in smoke. Then we have two replays of particularly nasty crashes, Carlos Rodríguez going down and being ridden into by those behind, before a Jayco-AlUla rider flips over a guardrail.

Eisel: 'Mark Cavendish's Tour de France dedication is stupid but this is the sport we fell in love with'

Talk of suffering and risk-taking further bolsters the suspicion that, as in the first series, Netflix will play heavily on professional cycling being a much tougher sport than casual viewers might expect.

The series is also set to delve into the tense relationship between two-time world champion 

already played out extensively in the media

. 

“Julian Alaphilippe costs a lot of money,” says Lefevere to the camera. Asked how much he is paid, Alapihlippe says: “A bit too much for Patrick, I think.” Alaphilippe is pictured alongside his child and his wife, Marion Rousse, who was 

 for her perceived role in his lack of recent results.

Moving on, the trailer turns to angry riders, with 

 all pictured fuming on their respective team buses, an area usually shut off to the outside world and a key part of Netflix’s behind-the-scenes access.

 Inside a pro team team bus with Lotto Dstny

The topic of doping is also set to be broached, although details are cryptic at this point.

“Do you think he is potentially doping, or not?” asks an off-screen interviewer, at which point we see Thibaut Pinot staring down the camera. The scene cuts away before we get an answer from the Frenchman, if indeed he does provide one, and before we get any specification of who the doping suspicion would concern.

The full list of teams that Netflix had access to for series 2 of Unchained has yet to be confirmed but the eight teams who made up the first series are set to return: 

, were a key omission last year and although they were linked with a starring role for series 2, 

 reported that no contract was in place and that the team were taking requests from Netflix on a case-by-case basis.

Mathieu van der Poel to ride Tour de France, skip Olympic Games mountain biking

 have announced the summer schedules for their two star riders, 

, with both men in line to lead the team in the 

 this July. The Olympic Games road race has been confirmed for Van der Poel but he will not ride the mountain bike event after deciding to prioritise his road ambitions in the World Champion's rainbow jersey. 

The Games in Paris are to be Van der Poel's second participation in the Olympics and the Dutchman is hoping to improve on his performance from Tokyo in 2021, which saw him tumble out of the XCO event and miss the road race.

Van der Poel's calendar will not feature any races prior to the Tour de France, but it appears that the 29-year-old will look to complete the Tour after 

initial conversations about leaving the race

This is the approach that Van der Poel took in 2021, when he won stage 2 and enjoyed a stint in the yellow jersey. With just the Tour de France and the Olympic Games road race (3 August) on his schedule this time around, though, Van der Poel will be free to finish the Tour for the second time in his career.

"This is the most logical choice to be able to prepare for my goals without time pressure,” Van der Poel explained in a statement released by his team. “The combination with MTB was too difficult. But who knows, maybe in LA ‘28 I can focus on mountain biking.

“My ambition for Tour de France? I hope like last year to assist teammate Jasper Philipsen in his hunt for stage wins and a possible green jersey. And the goal is to also win a stage myself this year.”

For all his achievements to date, from Monument victories to World Championship success, Van der Poel's stage victory from the 2021 Tour de France remains his only one to date and the Dutchman will be eager to rectify this in July. In spite of not racing between Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the Tour, the World Champion is confident that he will be in good shape for the Grand Départ in Florence and beyond.

"We have gained enough experience to know that, once in competition, I get into the right shape pretty quickly," Van der Poel said, to 

"Last year I got sick when a number of stages came up in which I had opportunities. Hopefully I will be spared that in this edition.

"Let's say I chose the most logical thing. My first half of the season was quite long. First, the cyclo-cross season and after a short break I resumed training in function of spring and I continued that campaign until Liège-Bastogne-Liège. If I want to focus fully on mountain biking now and be perfectly prepared, I have to start next weekend in Nove Mesto, the Czech race of the World Cup MTB.”

Where Van der Poel will skip his national championships and any mountain biking as part of his Tour de France preparation, teammate Philipsen will ride the Baloise Belgium Tour in June, before the Belgian national championships on 23 June and finally, the Tour de France beginning in Florence on 29 June and ending in Nice on 21 July. 

The Belgian sprinter and recent Milan-San Remo winner will be hoping to reclaim his green jersey from last season and add to his career tally of six Tour de France stage wins. With a fit and firing Van der Poel as his lead-out man, the 26-year-old will be a difficult man to stop. 

For more of the latest from the professional peloton, visit the 

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Name	Age	UCI Career Wins	UCI Points
Mathieu van der Poel	29	53	4640
Jasper Philipsen	26	56	4620
Kaden Groves	25	22	1662
Gianni Vermeersch	31	3	551
Axel Laurance	23	7	492

Alpecin-Deceuninck

Alpecin-Deceuninck

The Team

Team Bikes

Vuelta a España pro bike: Kaden Groves’ Canyon Aeroad CFR

Top Alpecin-Deceuninck Stories

Alpecin-Deceuninck Team Talk: Best season yet for the team who just keep on improving

Netflix trailer reveals what to expect from series 2 of Tour de France Unchained

Mathieu van der Poel to ride Tour de France, skip Olympic Games mountain biking

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