Team Jayco AlUla welcome back one of modern cycling's great breakaway specialists as part of DS shakeup for 2026

Team Jayco AlUla have confirmed a significant addition to their revamped 2026 sports-director group, welcoming Alessandro De Marchi back into the organisation just weeks after he ended an 18-year professional career. The Italian will step directly into the team car next season, continuing with the structure he represented in his final three years on the bike.

De Marchi retires as one of the defining breakaway specialists of his generation — a rider whose blend of stamina, race sense and tactical courage delivered Grand Tour stage wins, WorldTour victories and a deep well of respect inside the peloton.

His return now forms part of a broader reshaping of Jayco AlUla’s sporting staff for 2026, with the team prioritising voices who combine recent racing experience with long-term nous.

The Italian’s move into management has an air of inevitability about it. Throughout his journey from Androni to Cannondale, BMC, CCC, Israel–Premier Tech and finally Jayco AlUla, De Marchi built a reputation for intelligence and reliability — the sort of rider teams regularly relied upon to stabilise chaotic race situations or guide younger talents through their first big seasons.

Now, after closing out his final campaign with a farewell programme built largely around Italian fixtures, he begins what he considers the next phase of the same vocation.

“I’ve been waiting a long time for this new position,” De Marchi said in an official press release. “I’m happy to finally take this step, and above all, I’m happy because I can begin this new journey in an organization I know, one that recognizes me, and one that has always valued me for who I am. I know I’ll be starting from scratch, I’ll begin to reconstruct myself in this new role, which I’d like to interpret a bit like I did as a rider: with passion and determination for a job I love. I’m also very intrigued to see and work on the process from a new perspective; it’s stimulating to think about how I can contribute now.”

For a rider whose hallmark was long-range commitment and clarity under pressure, the idea of “reconstructing” himself in a new environment feels entirely in character.

Sporting Manager Gene Bates underlined how highly De Marchi is regarded internally. “It is fantastic to have Alessandro staying with Team Jayco AlUla for the next phase of his cycling career. During his time in the peloton, Alessandro developed a reputation as an intelligent rider, and he is well respected within the bunch. The transition from rider to staff member can be a challenging one but one we believe he will flourish in and GreenEDGE Cycling will be a very good place for him to learn.”

De Marchi’s retirement at the end of 2025 closed a chapter marked by grit, consistency and a style of racing increasingly rare in the data-driven landscape of modern cycling. Joining Jayco AlUla’s sports-director group ensures those qualities remain inside the sport — and inside a structure that knows the value of what he brings.

His second career now begins exactly where the first one ended: deeply embedded in a team that trusts him, ready to shape races not through breakaways but through the riders he guides.