2024 Season Review | Alpecin – Deceuninck: Van der Poel's world titles; Flanders and Roubaix wins; Philipsen and Groves still among top sprinters

Alpecin-Deceuninck has once again delivered a season full of victories and consistency, solidifying their status as one of the top teams in the cycling world. They finished the 2024 season in 8th place in the UCI World Tour Teams ranking, scoring a total of 15,009 points. This follows their 8th place finish in 2023 with 14,519.2 points and a 9th place in 2022, showcasing a remarkable level of consistency over the past three years. Despite their comparatively modest budget, Alpecin has maintained its position amongst the world's elite, ending just 500 points behind the high-budget INEOS Grenadiers in 7th, while holding a comfortable 300-point advantage over Lotto Dstny in 9th. Their performance in 2024 is a testament to their resilience, though it may also highlight the struggles faced by teams like INEOS rather than purely reflecting Alpecin's own efforts.

In 2024, Alpecin-Deceuninck celebrated a total of 26 victories, underscoring their continued success in the cycling calendar. A closer look at their season reveals why they remain a force to be reckoned with, particularly in the spring classics and grand tours.

Last year, Jasper Philipsen was unbeatable at the Tour de France, claiming four stages and the green jersey. Meanwhile, Mathieu van der Poel secured two monuments and the rainbow jersey in a sensational fashion in Glasgow, and Kaden Groves impressed with a stage win at the Giro, followed by multiple stage victories and the points classification at the Vuelta.

Alpecin-Deceuninck’s 2024 campaign was largely shaped by their stellar performances in the spring classics. Building on the momentum of a brilliant 2023 season, they once again dominated the cobbled and hilly classics.

In 2024, the trio of Philipsen, van der Poel, and Groves played a crucial role in the team’s success. At Milan-San Remo in March, van der Poel was the defending champion. The 2024 edition was one of the most thrilling in recent years, featuring attacks from top contenders like Tadej Pogacar, Matej Mohoric, and Tom Pidcock. Ultimately, it was Jasper Philipsen who stole the spotlight, securing the biggest victory of his career by sprinting to the line ahead of Mads Pedersen and Michael Matthews. Alpecin has now claimed the season's opening monument for two consecutive years.

Just a few weeks later, it was time for Mathieu van der Poe to step forward, wearing the rainbow jersey, and produce the ultimate cobbled classics season. In back-to-back weekends, van der Poel showcased his dominance and added two more monuments to his already illustrious palmarès.

Van der Poel made it a fabulous fifth monument victory with a stunning win at the 2024 Tour of Flanders, set up perfectly by a brutal attack on the wet and slippery cobbles of the Koppenberg. He crossed the finish line nearly a minute ahead of his closest rivals, reaffirming his dominance in the cobbled classics.

Just a week later, Van der Poel absolutely decimated the field with perhaps the greatest ever Paris-Roubaix performance. In an incredibly fast edition of Paris-Roubaix, once again, no one was faster than the world champion, Mathieu van der Poel. Attacking solo with 60km to go, the Alpecin-Deceuninck rider powered to victory in a display of dominance. The image of him in the rainbow jersey powering across the cobbles is already iconic. Better still for Alpecin, in the race for the podium, Jasper Philipsen made it another Alpecin-Deceuninck one-two with Mads Pedersen taking third. Van der Poel was a massive three minutes ahead of the rest of the podium, an astonishing achievement that cemented his status as one of the greatest classics riders of his generation.

Following the spring classics, Alpecin-Deceuninck faced the challenge of maintaining their form through the Grand Tour season. While their classics campaign was nothing short of sensational, they remained a force to be reckoned with in the Grand Tours, particularly in the sprints.

Though the team didn't claim any stage wins at the Giro d'Italia this year, their performance in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España was impressive. Jasper Philipsen’s had to wait for his first stage victory of the Tour de France until Stage 10, but he went on to win three stages in total. However, he was unable to secure the green jersey, which went to Biniam Girmay, who made history as the first black African to win a Tour stage and the first African to claim any jersey in the Tour de France. Philipsen's efforts were commendable, but not enough to halt this historic achievement.

The Vuelta saw a more familiar story, with Kaden Groves successfully defending his points classification. His victory was partly aided by an unfortunate crash involving Wout van Aert in the final week when van Aert had been the favourite to win the green jersey. Despite the circumstances, Groves proved himself a worthy winner, collecting three stage victories, including a memorable win on Stage 2, where he out-sprinted van Aert. The surprise of the Vuelta came with Groves’ contract situation. Despite announcing in a pre-stage 3 interview with Het Nieuwsblad that he had already signed with a new team for 2025, Groves shocked many by re-signing with Alpecin for another season.

With talents like Philipsen and Groves, and van der Poel as a lead-out option, Alpecin remains the premier sprinting team in the peloton.

While Alpecin-Deceuninck can look back on 2024 as another successful year, there were moments where their limitations were apparent. Compared to their standout 2023, where they captured the Tour’s green jersey and van der Poel secured the rainbow jersey, 2024 did not quite live up to those heights, despite their classics and grand tour success. Their rivals also stepped up, particularly Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe, who benefited from Primoz Roglic's outstanding performances in the Vuelta, and Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale, who jumped a remarkable 12 places to finish sixth in the World Tour rankings.

The team's 8th-place finish was solid, but being overtaken by Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale was a reminder that they face stiff competition from well-funded and highly competitive teams. If Alpecin wants to climb higher in 2025, they'll need to target specific areas for improvement.

Alpecin also were successful off the road this year, largely thanks again to Mathieu van der Poel. The Dutchman was dominant in securing his sixth cyclocross world championship, and such was his superiority over the field that he won thirteen out of the fourteen cyclocross races he competed in. 

But van der Poel’s success didn’t stop there. Just one week after losing his road world title to Tadej Pogacar in September, he claimed his eighth overall rainbow jersey, by winning the gravel world championships in Belgium earlier this month. It was an incredible performance by the Alpecin man, who is rapidly becoming one of the greatest ever all round riders.

To build on their success, Alpecin-Deceuninck will be eyeing a return to the top tier of World Tour teams in 2025. Here’s a number of ways they could look to try and climb the ranks.

Winning back the Tour de France green jersey with Jasper Philipsen. Philipsen’s sprinting prowess is unquestioned, but consistency in the points classification will be crucial if he is to reclaim his throne from Girmay in 2025.

More Tour stage wins for van der Poel. Despite his exceptional palmarès, van der Poel only has one Tour stage victory. Adding more Tour successes would further cement his legendary status, and maybe it is time for the Dutchman to refocus on the grand tours, as he has just about completed his legacy in the classics.

Targeting the green jersey in the Giro or Vuelta. With riders like Groves showing form, Alpecin could dominate the points competitions in the other Grand Tours as well.

Overall, Alpecin-Deceuninck’s 2024 season deserves a solid 8/10. They maintained consistency, added more monument victories to their tally, and dominated the sprint stages across the Grand Tours. Despite being outpaced in the rankings by higher budget teams like Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe, they have proven that they can compete at the highest level without the largest budget. Looking forward, Alpecin-Deceuninck will be aiming to build on their successes and take on the challenge of climbing the rankings in 2025.