"A similar format to last year" - Picnic PostNL confirm Briton Max Poole returns to Giro d'Italia and reveals Tour de France leader

Team Picnic PostNL managed to save their World Tour license into 2026 and had a breakthrough summer with Oscar Onley who finished fourth at the Tour de France. The Dutch team got back on its feet but the loss of the Briton poses an massive hit to its abilities of performing in the Grand Tours this year. However, its main cards will be played, and the team has revealed how it will split them.

"In 2026, we want to continue to be competitive in the most important races on the calendar and in events where the route suits our strengths," DS Rudi Kemna said in the team's media day, as reported by SpazioCiclismo. The plan is ultimately going to be almost the same with the team's leaders that stayed with the team. The team can no longer rely on Oscar Onley, as well as Tobias Lund Andresen who departed to Decathlon CMA CGM Team; and Romain Bardet who retired in June.

"We have a group of talented young climbers who can continue to grow and who have been strengthened by some experience, but we also want to further develop our sprint train, which brought us success at the Giro d'Italia and earned us praise from the peloton at the Tour de France."

Hence, the overall plan has been outlined. In 2025 Casper van Uden has won a sprint stage at the Giro d'Italia and Max Poole finished 11th in the overall classification; both riders will return to the Corsa Rosa in order to try and improve on their results from this season.

"The Giro d'Italia will follow a similar format to last year, where we'll aim to improve on the eleventh place we achieved in the general classification with Max, and we'll return to the race with stage winner Casper to once again target the sprints".

"The Tour de France will be all about stage wins, and we'll look to further strengthen our strong core of sprinters who helped us secure several top-five finishes last year, with Pavel Bittner returning eager to move up the order," he revealed. The Czech sprinter finished twice on the Top5 of sprints at the Grand Boucle last summer, and a win would make Picnic PostNL's race.

"Likewise, we'll be carefully analyzing the route to look for opportunities in the more hilly and mountainous stages." Afterwards, few decisions have been made over the Vuelta a España, but Briton Max Poole will race his second Grand Tour of the season, with his ambitions to be decided only when the time comes. Fabio Jakobsen in the meantime does not yet have a plan for the Grand Tours, and this will depend on his level throughout the spring.

"At the Vuelta, we'll see how Max has handled the Giro d'Italia and decide whether to return to the general classification or focus exclusively on stage results. In any case, it will be a good opportunity for some of our young talents to experience the thrill of a three-week race, or for others to make further progress, while also looking for our chances every day to achieve the best possible result".

"Beyond the three-week races, we believe our group can achieve victories throughout the season in a variety of different races, whether it's daily results in stage races or even showing off in one-day races".