World Champion and Tour's top sprinter from 2023 to chase repeat success in July as team announces full lineup
(Image credit: Alpecin-Deceuninck)
Alpecin-Deceuninck have unveiled a special “Dark Denim” kit for the upcoming Tour de France, which all of their riders bar World Champion Mathieu van der Poel will wear throughout the three weeks of racing.
The Dutchman will only have to swap out his rainbow bands for the new kit during the stages 7 and 21 time trials.
While not as different as Visma-Lease a Bike’s special Tour kit from their normal trade colours, the darker double-denim look has a purpose, highlighting a media campaign from one of their title sponsors, shampoo brand Alpecin.
An advert released alongside the kit shows Van der Poel in a race against time in racing, with team co-managers Phillip and Cristoph Roodhooft representing “the fight against one of the most visible signs of ageing – grey hair”.
Van der Poel will ride just his eighth race day of the season on stage 1 of the Tour de France after being confirmed as one of Alpecin-Deceuninck’s “absolute leaders” alongside Milan-San Remo winner Philipsen.
His last race was at Liège-Bastogne-Liège where he was third and closed out another successful Classics campaign, taking the win at Paris-Roubaix, the Tour of Flanders and E3 Saxo Classic.
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(Image credit: Alpecin-Deceuninck)
The two Alpecin-Deceuninck stars will be joined by Gianni Vermeersch, Silvan Dillier, Robbe Ghys, Søren Kragh Andersen, Jonas Rickaert and under-23 road World Champion Axel Laurance.
Philipsen was the most successful fast man at the last edition of the Tour as he took four stages and the green jersey, aided in his efforts by the best lead-out train and Van der Poel as last man.
Both he and Van der Poel have committed their long-term futures to the Roodhooft brothers ‘team, extending until at least 2028, and together they make a formidable pair who will be eyeing up each of the six or seven sprint opportunities at the Tour.
Van der Poel will also be riding the Tour in the rainbow bands as the World Champion and his time at the Tour will mainly be used as the final tune-up towards the Paris Olympics road race, in a similar way to how he built up his form before Glasgow worlds in 2023.
He also announced earlier in June that he wouldn’t be taking on the MTB event as originally planned, choosing only to focus on the road race which takes place on August 3 in Paris.
Alpecin-Deceuninck 2024 Tour de France squad
Mathieu van der Poel
Jasper Philipsen
Gianni Vermeersch
Silvan Dillier
Robbe Ghys
Søren Kragh Andersen
Jonas Rickaert
Axel Laurance.
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James Moultrie is a gold-standard NCTJ journalist who joined Cyclingnews as a News Writer in 2023 after originally contributing as a freelancer for eight months, during which time he also wrote for Eurosport, Rouleur and Cycling Weekly. Prior to joining the team he reported on races such as Paris-Roubaix and the Giro d’Italia Donne for Eurosport and has interviewed some of the sport’s top riders in Chloé Dygert, Lizzie Deignan and Wout van Aert. Outside of cycling, he spends the majority of his time watching other sports – rugby, football, cricket, and American Football to name a few.
