Fantastic victory of Philipsen thanks to Van der Poel’s lead-out
On Wednesday, the last 20 kilometres of Stage 3 of Tirreno-Adriatico 2023 was a rare spectacle. After a predictable battle disputed over almost 200 kilometres between the big ones of the different teams, the unexpected lead-out of Mathieu van der Poel brought Jasper Philipsen to victory. Paved his way by the Dutch teammate, Philipsen could end the race with a great sprint of 150 metres, making Alpecin-Deceuninck achieve its first victory of the season.
Verde Comodoro is back!
FENIX-Deceuninck will race Giro Donne 2023 in Verde Comodoro. The special edition jersey was revealed on Saturday when the team wore it for Strade Bianche, the first Italian Spring Classic of the season.
The iconic FENIX® colour was used for the first time in 2022 for the Alpecin-FENIX (now Alpecin-Deceuninck) kit at Giro d’Italia. This shade of green, which was inspired by the peacefulness of nature, proved once again to be very distinctive amid the white gravel and hilly scenery that characterise the Crete Senesi, where the 9th edition of Strade Bianche Donne took place.
Strong performance by FENIX-Deceuninck with an solid 6th place by Puck Pieterse, in her Women’s WorldTour debut and second road race of the season. A memorable day that also saw Yara Kastelijn finished 15th and Christina Schweinberger 22nd.
Van der Poel is the 2023 UCI Cyclocross World Champion
The exciting winter duel between the two cyclocross titans, Mathieu van der Poel and Wout van Aert, came to an end on Sunday in Hoogerheide, Netherlands. Van der Poel managed to outsprint his rival and conquered the fifth golden medal of his career in men’s elite category.
With this victory, the Alpecin-Deceuninck team leader is officially the UCI Cyclocross World Champion. “I think if you take one of us two away, then it makes the races less interesting for sure. It was a good battle against Wout who is really hard to beat, so I’m happy,” van der Poel said.
Another long-disputed battle was fought on Hoogerheid ground between Puck Pieterse and Fem van Empel. After a new head-to-head race on Saturday, the 21-years-old Alpecin-Deceuninck rider achieved the silver podium in her first elite of Cyclocross World Championship.
“There were a few laps that we were looking at each other and seeing where the rest was riding but Fem and I kept the pace high,” Pieterse argued. “It comes down to the details and the form on the day. We had some great battles this season, every race is different of course.”
Mathieu Van der Poel wins Benidorm Cyclocross World Cup
Getting the best out of a close battle with his rival Wout van Aert, Mathieu van der Poel conquered on Sunday the first place at UCI Cyclocross World Cup in Benidorm.
“To win is always super nice, but in the end, I think it was just a really nice race. It was quite dangerous, slippery and really difficult to ride faster than we were doing. In the end, it was a great battle against Wout. I’m really happy to win,” said the Alpecin-FENIX team captain after his victory in Spain.
The same day, another exciting duel was fought in Benidorm between Fem van Empel and Puck Pieterse. In the final lap of the women course, van Empel got a terrific acceleration that only Pieterse could keep up with. It ended with the silver podium for the Alpecin- Deceuninck rider, who followed van Empel by 3 seconds.
“Fem and I made really good race until the end. She was just a tiny bit better today,” Pieterse commented.
Puck Pieterse wins the Dutch CX National Championship
On Sunday afternoon, skilfully coping with a mud pool left by overnight river flooding, Puck Pieterse arrived solo to the finish line of the Dutch National Championships in Zaltbommel. For the first time out of the under-23s, the rider gained the golden podium becoming the new Dutch Women Elite champion. She was followed by her Alpecin-Deceuninck teammate Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, who broke the finishing line 26 seconds later.
“In the last lap, I noticed that Ceylin came very close. I had half a minute lead, then I thought: something really crazy must be happening. But of course, you still have to go full throttle, otherwise, you will give up half a minute, especially on such a tough course. When I saw Ceylin getting closer and closer, I just ran for my life,” the winner said in an interview post race.
Pieterse’s victory in Netherlands followed Sanne Cant’s fourteenth title as Belgian Cyclocross Champion. After her Lokeren solo victory on Saturday, the Crelan-Fristads rider announced that she would focus on the road season with FENIX-Deceuninck team.
FENIX to sponsor FENIX-Deceuninck women’s WorldTour team
Once again, FENIX has chosen the path of innovation. Not just in the interior design sector, but also in the cycling world. After a successful three-year experience with a Pro Continental team, it is time to venture further in a sport that is evolving and making history. Starting January 1st, 2023, FENIX will be the main co-title sponsor of the FENIX-Deceuninck women’s team, previously named Plantur-Pura.
“We are proud to support the growth of a women’s team that has an innovative approach and shares a set of values that is aligned with our FENIX brand,” says Stefano Mion, CEO of Arpa Industriale, the company that created FENIX innovative materials for interior design.
The team was founded in 2020 with a roster of top cyclo-cross specialists, including Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado, with the aim to offer an interesting road program during the spring and summer months before the cyclo-cross season. Two years later, it is a UCI Continental team with a roster of 22 cyclists that has raced Spring Classics and the first Tour de France Femmes. For 2023, FENIX-Deceuninck will be a UCI WorldTour team.
“The team is ready to take the next step and, with FENIX, we are committed to make it happen. This is a team that does not rely on talent alone and believes, as we do, that reaching the highest level requires hard work, dedication and a constant desire to improve. They focus on growth and long-term goals requiring rigor to reach the highest standards,” says Mion.
From January 2020 until July 2022, FENIX was the second name sponsor of the Alpecin-FENIX team, now Alpecin-Deceuninck. Since then, it has continued its support as an official partner.
“FENIX will remain a partner of the men’s team, but will focus on the women from January 1,” explains team manager Philip Roodhooft. “Deceuninck will extend its partnership with the men—as name sponsor—linearly to the women’s team. This allows both companies to make a difference as a brand, but they are also important for us in the further expansion of our complete structure, not only the women’s team. Also Alpecin, Canyon and Zwift keep engaging in all our ranks. All this allows us to follow the most ideal path, which is to offer women and men the same opportunities at the highest level.”
Now that both teams have been granted the UCI WorldTour license, their riders will be competing in the top-level races including Gran Tours, Monuments and Classics.
Van der Poel wins the CX World Cup in Antwerp
Mathieu Van der Poel crossed first the finish line of the CX World Cup stage in Antwerp, Belgium, achieving an important victory. The Alpecin-Deceuninck captain closed the race in 59:04, just 23 seconds ahead of Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) and now he is in the ninth position of the UCI World Cup Cyclocross 2022-2023 – Men Elite general classification.
This is his second win in the 2022-23 Cyclo-Cross season, after the victory on the CX Hulst race in the Netherland on November 27th. Two races and two first positions for the Flying Dutchman! He seems very satisfied about his performances and, in the interview after the race, said “I felt good, I was able to get a good gap, maintain it and I am pretty happy with today.”
Congrats Mathieu, we hope to witness many more magic moments in the future races.
Puck Pieterse is the new U23 Women European Cyclo-cross champion
Dutch rider Puck Pieterse won the 2022 European Cyclo-cross Championships after dominating the Women’s Under 23 race.
The 2022 edition of UEC European Cyclo-cross Championships took place in Namur, Belgium, a reference city for the sport. Pieterse crossed first the finish line with the time of 49 minutes and 02 seconds. The 20-year-old Dutchwoman took control right from the start of the race and held on to the lead right until the finish. Behind Pieterse, was the French rider Line Burquier (50″) and the 2021 European Champion Shirin van Anrooij (Netherlands), third at 1’27”.
In the Women’s Elite, Ceylin del Carmen Alvarado finished second just 22” behind Fem Van Empel, who won the race in 50:25.
Congratulation to the Alpecin-Deceuninck ladies for their great performance.
Vermeersch is the first-ever Gravel World Champion
Gianni Vermeersch won the inaugural UCI Gravel World Championships, which took place in Veneto.
The Belgian ridercrossed first the finish line in Cittadella (Padova) after 194 km in 5 hours, 10 minutes and 40 seconds, ahead of the Italian Daniel Oss and the Alpecin-Deceuninck team captain Mathieu Van Der Poel.
It really was an outstandingrace for Vermeersch since the departure from Campo Marzo in Vicenza. After just 50 kilometers and with 144 km to go, he attacked the head of the race together with Oss. . The duo led gravel race. Van der Poel, followed by Greg Van Avermaet and Alessandro De Marchi, tried to reduce the gap without success. Verrmeersch dropped Oss in the closing kilometres, using his cyclocross skills to his advantage on the trickier terrain. The Belgian crossed the line solo in what he described as the best win of his career.
“It’s unbelievable,”said Vermeersch . “It was one of the biggest opportunities for me to ever become a world champion. I can’t believe I get to take the rainbow jersey home.”.
Vermeersch was considered an outsider with only three professional road races victories in his career.
A great result for the Alpecin-Decueninck riders who, beside the coveted rainbow jersey, also took , the third place with Van der Poel.
Congratulation to Vermeersch and Van der Poel!
The fantastic La Vuelta of Jay Vine
Jay Vine, the Australian rider of Alpecin-Deceuninck cycling team and 2020 Zwift Academy winner, is performing very well at La Vuelta 2022. Thanks to the two stages victories and other good placings, he is the current leader of the KOM classification with 40 pts ahead of the teammates Robert Stannard Jimmy Janssens, who is fourth.
Vine won stage 6 of La Vuelta, his first victory as a pro rider and his first in a Grand Tour. A very tough 181.2-km-long course, from Bilbao to San Miguel de Aguayo, that ended with the ascension of Pico Jano, a 12.6 kilometre-long climb. Through an intense fog, Jay Vine crossed first the finish line in 04 hours and 38 seconds, ahead of Remco Evenepoel, the current leader of La Vuelta general classification. It was an unexpected and epic victory!
Two days later Vine was able to win the stage 8 closing the race ahead of the Spanish rider Marc Soler. It was another race for the climbers: 153,4 kms from Pola de Laviana in Asturias to Colláu Fancuaya at 1,080 meters. Another impressive performance for the Australian.
La Vuelta is not finish yet and there are other mountains stages. We can’t wait to enjoy the next challenges.
