Jan Bakelants curious to see how new riders at Alpecin-Deceuninck perform: "They always manage to get the most out of them, more than you would expect"
Cycling
Jan Bakelants is very impressed with the team that Alpecin-Deceuninck has on paper for 2024. According to the former rider, Mathieu van der Poel has an even stronger support, with Jasper Philipsen of course as co-leader.
In conversation with HLN, Bakelants says that he thinks the transfer policy of Christop and Philip Roodhooft is clever. For example, the team said goodbye to Dries De Bondt, Alexander Krieger, Jakub Mareczko, Stefano Oldani and Lionel Taminiaux, but succeeded with Lars Boven, Stan Van Tricht and Juri Hollmann, three promising riders away from Jumbo-Visma, Soudal-Quick Step and Movistar. In addition, talented Timo Kielich, Axel Laurance, Henri Uhlig and Luca Vergallito are transferred from the development team.
"The team retains the leaders," Bakelants notes, referring to Van der Poel, Philipsen and also sprinter Kaden Groves. They ensured the big victories in 2023, with Van der Poel as winner in Milan-Sanremo, Paris-Roubaix and the World Championships and Philipsen with four stage victories and the green jersey in the Tour. Strong and especially young riders are now joining them. "Young riders who were not immediately known as the top riders but still have a lot of room for progression. And where they always manage to get the most out of them, more than you would expect. Laurance is the under-23 world champion. And Kielich was already half professional and won a nice stage in the Tour de Wallonie."
In short: Van der Poel and Philipsen do not have to worry about their big goals in 2024. Bakelants mentions one wild card. "Keep an eye on that Vergalitto. Pawn of the Zwift Academy platform, who possibly owns a similar engine to Jay Vine. I saw his climbing times on Strava on the mountains around Livigno: that boy has quality. The question of course is how skilled he is to ride in a peloton. That wasn't great with Vine, but he quickly got over it."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- He is boring
leedorney08-11-2026 - To Twoje przemyślenia te bla, bla :)
Dariusz08-11-2026 - Uwielbiam patrzeć, jak wyjeżdża na czoło peletonu i zaczyna się rzeź...Dariusz08-11-2026
- Yeah, unreal.
parisbound0008-11-2026 - there needs to be space in life for pointless comments!Ketterechts08-11-2026
- That is a very lazy way of putting it but so far on this website it seems like everyone is happy to look at everything lazily, even things that annoy them intensely. All they want to do is state their feeling and position but ask most to analyse a problem or come up with solutions or improvements and you’re stunned by silence. Nobody even really knows how this all happens. It’s very simple and quick to just say the UCI did it but I bet you they didn’t, I bet you not more than 2 people were involved, more likely just 1. The UCI may be ultimately responsible but it is not their decision, this is about hierarchy, power and delegation. The fact that protest is possible also means it isn’t over and that MORE people could get involved for a thorough review which could throw up anything. It is highly likely it was a sole commissar who decided and has that power in a first round. Therein might lie the problem the UCI has to consider, is it acceptable to give so much authority to one single person when it is quite possible for them to have a natural bias or be too easily susceptible to imposed bias. Who is to say an individual in this position isn’t susceptible to collaboration with outside players with interests in the results, nations, families, teams, betting companies, etc. On the one hand we have sports where these problems have been worked on way more to reduce such problems, on the other hand we have sports with far stricter and more draconian rules not even concerning safety or obstruction that nobody really questions like false starts or stepping out of lane or zones in athletics. If cycling hastowork on itself, it would be good if protagonists (all kinds) would start doing a little more than just moaning over outcomes.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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🏆 @JasperPhilipsen is crowned Flandrien 2023 by @Nieuwsblad_be. The trophy was handed over by @PeterSagan. It is the complete Belgian pro peloton that made its vote. World champion @mathieuvdpoel was voted ‘International Flandrien’. Congratulations, both! #alpecindeceuninck
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