CONFIRMED: Alpecin-Deceuninck signs 9 new riders; new sprinters, classics specialist and Tour stage winners included

Until today, Alpecin-Deceuninck had 19 riders signed for the 2026 season. After the team's presentation and reveal of its new sponsor in Premier Tech, the Belgian team finally announced the signings it had worked for in the last few months. Eight new riders were revealed to be joining the World Tour team, including a few very interesting names.

Previously, the team had announced the promotion of Lennert Belmans, Aaron Dockx and Senna Remijn from the development to the elite team into the 2026 season. Today, Sente Sentjens has also been promoted officially. Several names had been linked to the team, and they were confirmed today, alongside a few other figures. The eight-rider list includes Maurice Ballerstedt, who was part of the Belgian team until 2024 and this year took a break from the professional ranks to focus on gravel and criterium racing in the United States of America.

The team has signed Lindsay de Vylder and Jonas Geens coming over from the Team Flanders - Baloise team; Tim Marsman from the continental VolkerWessels Cycling Team; Hugo Houle who comes over from Israel - Premier Tech, a very specific signing as Premier Tech joined the team as a title sponsor and was looking for a Canadian rider to be represented in the team... Houle is a Tour de France stage winner from the 2023 edition.

The bigger transfers consist of Florian Sénéchal, classics and leadout specialist who joins in after the demise of Arkéa - B&B Hotels. The Frenchman had been linked to Alpecin already over a month ago and his signing seems like a perfect fit taking tinto consideration his specialties. 

But most importantly, the team has signed two riders from Intermarché - Wanty, who found themselves in a difficult situation after the team's merger with Lotto. After Biniam Girmay and Arne Marit, the team's third sprinter Gerben Thijssen is joining Alpecin and so is Italian puncheur Francesco Busatto. With this, the team is now made of 28 riders and is complete, but it is important to remember that in non-World Tour races, riders from the development team can be linked up with members of the elite team - and this includes, at the very least, cyclocross specialists such as Cameron Mason and Jente Michels.

At the time being, Michael Gogl, Stan van Tricht, Jensen Plowright, Henri Uhlig and Juri Hollmann remain without a contract for 2026. Jimmy Janssens and 24-year old Lars Boven have retired from the sport.

The team has lost Xandro Meurisse and Quinten Hermans to Pinarello - Q36.5 Pro Cycling; Gianni Vermeersch to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe; Timo Kielich to Team Visma | Lease a Bike; Robbe Ghys to Decathlon CMA CGM Team and Fabio van den Bossche to Soudal - Quick-Step.