Fabian Cancellara and the Tudor Pro Cycling management celebrated Michael Storer's third place at Il Lombardia as if it was a major victory.
For the Australian and for the Swiss ProTeam, a place on the podium with Tadej Pogačar and Remco Evenepoel was a big moment and confirmation of their development during the last three years.
"We're working hard for moments like these, so we can keep improving and keep growing. We want to be a bigger and better team, we're not yet where we want to be," Cancellara told Cyclingnews at Il Lombardia.
"You learn by working hard and by making mistakes, by doing things well and then realizing when you haven't done things as well as you should have. That is perhaps the story of our 2025 season."
On Sunday, the team's road captain Matteo Trentin won Paris-Tours, the team's 15th victory of 2025. Storer won a stage at Paris-Nice, the overall at the Tour of the Alps, was tenth overall at the Giro d'Italia and chased stage victories at the Tour de France.
More was perhaps expected from leaders Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi but the Frenchman still won the Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec. He also raced valiantly at the Tour despite some pre-race health problems and was fifth at the Tour de Suisse and third at the Tour of Britain. Hirschi only won one race but racked up a long list of placings that secured vital ranking points to ensure Tudor will have places in all the 2026 WorldTour.
In 2026, Stefan Küng will strengthen the Tudor roster even further, adding firepower for the cobbled Classics. Storer has extended his contract until 2028 and other new signings include Luca Mozzato and the USA's Will Barta. Alaphilippe and Hirschi are under contract until 2027 and shipping and cruise giant MSC recently came on board as a key sponsor, joining bike sponsor, BMC, Red Bull, Assos and Boss.
Cancellara and team managers Raphael Meyer and Ricardo Scheidecker have created a solid team structure and have the support of wealthy sponsors. Cancellara won numerous Classics, time trial world titles and other races while riding for Mapei, Fassa Bortolo, CSC and Trek. He remains equally ambitious as a team owner and manager.
"We've been a ProTeam for three years now and so it's the end of a first cycle, now it's time to step up another level," Cancellara said, looking ahead to 2026 and beyond.
"We're building a new team headquarters in Switzerland, and we're set to secure an invitation to all the WorldTour races in 2026 thanks to our excellent ranking this year.
"There's a lot to do. The riders rightly get to enjoy a holiday now but the team management is busy preparing for 2026. We're planning everything, we're preparing for our winter get-together and then the training camps. We're hard at work for 2026."
Tudor scored more points than a third of the teams in the 2025 WorldTour but will not be able to join the WorldTour for the next three-year cycle even if they have the budget and the roster.
Tudor stepped up a level in 2025 but scored fewer points in 2023 and 2024, placing them just 23rd in the three-year team ranking that decides the sporting merit for the next WorldTour cycle.
It is clearly a sore point for Cancellara.
"Our next step has to be part of the WorldTour but will the WorldTour exist in three year's time? I don't know. We've got to work under the current system and play by the current rules," he said.
Cancellara is hoping that Küng, Alaphilippe, Hirschi and Mozzato can combine for the Classics, while Storer confirms his success of 2025.
"We're on the right road for the future, especially with Stefan joining us," Cancellara said.
"We'd love to win a big Classic but even I know it's not easy. We race to win, that's for sure but when you're racing against Tadej Pogacar or Mathieu van der Poel in the Classics, it's never easy."
