WORLDTOUR

On Friday, Alpecin-FENIX Pro cyclist Maurice Ballerstedt won the 2022 German U23 Individual Time Trial National Championship in Marsberg. The 21-year-old rider covered the 27.5 km course in 37 minutes and 19 seconds, finishing ahead of Tobias Buck-Gramcko (Rad-Net Rose Team) and Hannes Wilksch (Hannes Development Team).

Winning the U23 ITT national title was of Ballerstedt’s goal after he finished second in the 2021 championship. According to the specialized press, the course in Marsberg was probably the most difficult time trial course in recent years.

“It was a balancing act,” said Ballerstedt after the race. “You weren’t allowed to throw everything out at the beginning, you had to divide up your strength. Climbers and time trial specialists both had a chance today. You just had to manage the last few kilometers and roll to the finish line.”

Dries de Bondt wins the 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia 2022 after a thrilling final sprint against other four riders. The Belgian cyclist of the Alpecin-FENIX team crossed the finish first in 03 hours, 21 minutes and 21 seconds, just ahead of the Italian Edoardo Affini, Magnus Cort Nielsen and Davide Gabburo.

The 18th stage of the Giro d’Italia – 156 km from Borgo Valsugana to Treviso – was the last chance for the sprinters to have their day and Dries took this opportunity to win his first stage of the Giro d’Italia.

“I can’t believe it, it really was  a dream, but since I started cycling I had dreams and those dreams became goals. I achieved those goals and then I started dreaming bigger. Last year I raced the Giro as a national champion and this year I had the goal of winning a stage. I pulled it off and it’s just amazing,” the 30-year-old added.

This is not a dream Dries, this is real. Congratulations!

After 204 kms, from Parma to Genova, Stefano Oldani crossed first the finish line of the stage 12 of Giro d’Italia, the longest of the 2022 edition. The Italian cyclist of Alpecin-FENIX won ahead of Lorenzo Rota (Intermarché) and the Dutch Gijs Leemreize (Jumbo-Visma) thanks to a fantastic final sprint.

Oldani’s win was a second of the race for the Alpecin-Fenix teamafter the first stage’s victory of Mathieu Van der Poel and the first of his professional career. “It was not easy. I knew Rota, my friend, was also fast so I had to watch out,” the 24-year-old told after the race. “Leemreize also looked like he wanted to anticipate, so it was not easy to manage, but in the end I did it.”

Congratulation Stefano! Great Job!

The cyclists of Giro d’Italia 2022 are traveling to Italy for the four stage of the competition and Mathieu Van der Poel, the leader of the general classification, is coming to Italy wearing the pink jersey.

“I hope to take the pink to Sicily, then we’ll see what happens,” Mathieu said on Saturday after the second stage of Giro d’Italia. And he achieved his target. The captain of the Alpecin-FENIX team won the first stage of the Giro, from Budapest to Visegrad.  He carried out and excellent performance in both the individual time trial,  closing in second position and in the third stage (17° place), where he defended the first place in the general classification and the Maglia Rosa.

On Tuesday, the fourth stage of the Giro d’Italia will run from Avola to Etna, 172 kms in the wonderful east side of Sicily with a summit finish. Van der Poel is a sprinter and this specific route might be more adapt to the climbing specialists but, quoting Mathieu, we’ll see what happens.

Alpecin-FENIX closed six intense days of racing at 4 Jours de Dunkerque, in northern France, with two stage wins from Lionel Taminiaux and Gianni Vermeersch. For both, this was their first victories of the 2022 road season.

Taminiaux crossed first the finish line of stage 4 in a spectacular bunch sprint in Aire-sur-la-Lys, ahead of Stanislaw Aniolkowski (Bingoal Pauwels Sauces WB) and Gerben Thijssen (Intermarché – Wanty – Gobert Matériaux). This was his second career victory.

The next day, it was Gianni Vermeersch who rose to the highest spot of the podium. The Alpecin-FENIX rider proved to be the strongest of a small group of sprinters to take stage 5 in Cassel, an area where he often trains. “So happy with the victory,” wrote Vermeersch on an Instagram post. “After my crash in Strade Bianche and getting influenza before (Milano) Sanremo, I was not having the best shape during Spring season. I kept working and the reward is there!”

Well done guys!

The Giro d’Italia 2022 started in the best possible way for the Alpecin-FENIX team thanks to the wonderful victory of its captain Mathieu Van der Poel.

In the first stage, 195 kms from Budapest to Visegrád, Mathieu crossed first the finish line in 04:35:28 ahead of the Eritrean cyclist Biniam Girmay and the Spanish Pello Bilbao, conquering the first “Maglia Rosa” of the 105° edition of Giro d’Italia and of his professional career.

The route run completely flat across the Hungarian lowlands, only to rise in the final 5 kilometres, perfect conditions for a sprinter like Van der Poel. He didn’t disappoint and made a powerful final sprint to win the stage.

What a great race Mathieu! Congratulations!

Alpecin-FENIX will not line up for the 2022 Giro d’Italia in its classic (and essentially unchanged since 2020) navy blue kit, but in a soft, timeless shade of green called ‘Verde Comodoro’. With this temporary kit change, the team want to draw attention to a unique product development that amplifies the FENIX innovative materials system.

FENIX has developed a high-quality, flexible wall covering called X-KIN, meeting the features and the Italian design that characterizes the innovative materials for interior design. For the duration of this year’s Giro, the FENIX logo on our kit will therefore be replaced by ‘X-KIN by FENIX’. This one-time change is only applicable to the Giro. For the other races in the same period and for the rest of the season, Alpecin-Fenix will line up in its traditional, blue team kit.

This special edition jersey will only be worn at the Giro. For the other races in the same period and for the rest of the season, Alpecin-Fenix will line up in its traditional, blue team kit.

Jasper Philispen won the stage three of Tour of Turkey 2022 becoming the new leader of the general classification. The Alpecin-FENIX rider crossed first the finish line of the race in 2 hours, 35 minutes and 19 seconds, ahead of the Kaden Groves and Miguel Angel Fernandez.

The stage three of the Tour of Turkey was 123 kilometers-long from Çeşme to İzmir (Karşıyaka), the  perfect race for the sprinters. Is no coincidence that Philipsen, who is  one of the best sprinters in the cycling circus, leads the sprint classification of the competition with 28 points ex-equo with Groves.

Considering his two second places in both stage one (207 kms from Bodrum to Kuşadası) and stage two (158 kms from Selçuk, close to Efes, to Alaçatı), the Belgian is providing fantastic performance in the Tour of Turkey 2022.

We can’t wait to enjoy the next stages! Keep it up Jasper!

He did it again! Mathieu van der Poel sprinted to victory in the Tour of Flanders cobbled classic for the second time. The first victory of “De Ronde” was in 2020.

The Alpecin-FENIX Dutch rider crossed first the finish line in Oudenaarde, Belgium, ahead of Dyland van Baarle, Valentin Madous and Tadej Pogacar. Van der Poel, who only began his 2022 season at Milano-San Remo two weeks ago, won the 273-kilometer one-day classic with a time of 6 hours, 18 minutes and 30 seconds thanks to a powerful final sprint.

He described as “incredible” to win his second Tour of Flanders. “I worked so hard for this one. At first, it wasn’t even sure if I would get to the Classics and to win is incredible. They were coming really fast from behind, so I decided to sprint from far out. It was amazing that Pogacar was busy with me and not with the others coming back. It was a bit of a shock to see it play out like that.”

The Alpecin-FENIX captain is definitively back to his standard performance after an off season due to a back injury. The best is yet to come!

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!