Month: March 2022

In the 76^th edition of Dwars door Vlaanderen, Mathieu van der Poel took his second victory of 2022. It is the second time he wins this Belgian competition.

The Alpecin-FENIX team captain crossed first the finish line in 4 hours, 05 minutes and 39 seconds ahead of Tiesj Benoot (Team Jumbo-VIsma) and the British rider Thomas Pidcock. The race, which started from Roeselare and ended in Waregen, was 183.7 Kilometers longs and is consider as an anticipation test for the most famous Tour of Flanders that will held in Belgium on April 3rd.

Van der Poel is going back to his standard level of performance and he is ready for the next challenge. Keep going Mathieu!

Mathieu Van der Poel achieved his first victory of 2022 during the stage four of Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

After the fantastic third place in Milano-Sanremo 2022 – in what was an impressive return to racing after working on the rehabilitation of his back and knee – and the excellent fourth place in stage one of Coppi e Bartali, the Alpecin-FENIX Dutch rider crossed first the finish line in Montecatini Terme ahead of Ethan Hayter (Ineos Grenadiers) and the British Mertz Rémy.

“I really didn’t expect it anymore,” he said after the race. “I felt I had the legs to do a nice sprint. I try to never give up. I felt good today, and I enjoyed myself actually. It’s the way I like to race and I liked it. ”

Van der Poel’s road cycling season has just started and he’s already return to the winner’s circle. Welcome back Mathieu!

The Classic Brugge-De Panne 2022 gave us a thrilling end of the race where Tim Merlier sprinted to  victory ahead of Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco). The Alpecin-FENIX rider crossed first the finish line in 4 hours 45 minutes and 41 seconds and won by just millimeters .  He was declared the winner after consulting the video technology.

This was the 46^th edition of the  Classic Brugge-De Panne. The Belgian competition – originally three days long –is part of the UCI World Tour 2022. Thanks to this latest victory, Merlier earns five positions in the general classification, reaching the19° position just after his Alpecin-FENIX teammate Jasper Philpsen.

2022 is going well for Tim Merlier, who has already collected two important victories (Nokere Koerse and Tirreno-Adriatico stage two). Keep the amazing work Tim!

Mathieu van der Poel has been added to the Alpecin-Fenix roster for Milano-Sanremo. The Dutchman is set to make his return to competition almost three months since his last race. Van der Poel’s return was scheduled for the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali, but it was decided to include him for Milano-Sanremo due to the several sick and injured riders in the team.

Van der Poel’s training in recent weeks has been satisfactory and his back issues seem to be gradually disappearing. Nevertheless, the team management do not want to put any pressure on the four-time cyclocross world champion; he will participate without expectations or ambitions. The 293 km race was preferred over a training session to get some extra race kilometres in the legs. After Milano-Sanremo, van der Poel will remain in Italy for the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali.

Here a video message from Van der Poel about the past few months, his comeback to the peloton, and his race plans for the coming weeks. Good luck Mathieu!

Tim Merlier won the Nokere Koerse 2022 just a week after the first victory of his 2022 cycling season during the second stage of Tirreno-Adriatico. Definitely a magic moment for the Belgian rider.

Nokere Koerse is a European cycling “classic” single day race held in the Flanders, Belgium, close to Waregem. This year was the 76° edition and was 189.8 Kilometers long with numerous tough cobbled sections, a typical characteristic of the race.

Merlier crossed first the finish line in 4 hours 20 minutes and 04 seconds with an impressive final sprint just ahead of the German rider Max Walscheid (Cofidis). Thanks to the victory in Nokere Koerse the Alpecin-FENIX Belgian rider moved up two position in the general 2022 UCI Classification.

“I think the team did well. I had good legs today, good enough to finish it off in the end. It’s really nice to take the win in my own region!” he said in an interview after the race.

Tim Merlier sprinted to victory on stage 2 of Tirreno Adriatico and the Alpecin-FENIX team obtain its first 2022 win in Italy.

The second stage of Tirreno Adriatico 2022, which started from Camaiore in north-west of Tuscany and ended in Sovicille, was a thrilling race till the very end. It was 219-kilometers long and took the riders through the wonderful hills of Tuscany.

Merlier crossed first the finish line in 05 hours, 25 minutes and 23 seconds ahead of the Dutch rider Olav Kooij and Australian Kaden Groves after a fantastic final sprint. It was his first victory of 2022. Now,  the Belgian rider is tied with  Filippo Ganna as the leader of the points classification.

Good Job Tim! Keep it up!

The 2022 road cycling season for the Alpecin-FENIX rider Dries de Bondt has been very positive with two podiums in a week.

In the 54^th edition of Le Samyn, de Bondt crossed third the finish line just after Matteo Trentin and Hugo Hofsetter. The 209-kilometers long race, which started from Quaregnong in Belgium and ended in Dour, was a mix of cobbles and tarmac road mainly in a flat path. It was a fun and interesting race with a great performance of the Alpecin-FENIX rider.

The Belgian rider stepped again in the podium with a second place in Grote Prijs Jean-Pierre Monseré 2022. This youngrace, in its 5^th edition, took place close to Roeselare in Flanders. It’s mainly for sprinters, and last year was won by Tim Merlier, certainly a specialist of the speed, but who had to miss the the 2022 edition.

Dries performance was outstanding and we are very proud of his results.
Keep going Dries, this is just the beginning!

Strade Bianche is the first Italian “classic” that the Alpecin-FENIX team will race as part of the 2022 road season.

The team will take part to the race with the following line-up: Floris de Tier, Michael Gogl, Xandro Meurisse, Stefano Oldani, Robert Stannard, Scott Thwaites and Gianni Vermeersch.
The winner of the last edition of Strade Bianche, Mathieu van der Poel, will not take part to the race but we are sure that each member of the Alpecin-FENIX team will perform at their best to succeed in the competition.

Since 2007, Strade Bianche is raced in the province of Siena. The name Strade Bianche stems from the historic white gravel roads in the Crete Senesi, which are a defining feature of the race. One third of the total race distance is raced on dirt roads. It is part of the UCI World Tour since 2017 and it’s known worldwide as “Europe’s most Southern Northern Classic.”

Good luck to all the Alpecin-FENIX team for their participation to Strade Bianche 2022!