The team has a decidedly northern traction: Belgium and especially the Netherlands constitute the backbone of both the men's and women's teams, with the acclaimed duo Van der Poel-Philipsen and management entrusted to the Roodhooft brothers, but one of its most important sponsors is an Italian interior design company. However, pay attention: Fenix, which gave its name to the Alpecin team and has been doing so for the women's formation since last year, is indeed based in Milan, but the high-quality laminate company that owns the brand, Arpa Industriale, belongs to the Dutch holding Broadview. Italian excellences "at the service" of the Netherlands.

Right in the Milanese Fenix Scenario, in a small street of Foro Buonaparte, between Sforza Castle and Brera district, the Fenix Deceuninck was officially presented this morning for 2025. After collecting numerous breakaways and placements on the road (notable are the 3rd place overall at Tour de France and 4th at Giro Women by Pauliena Rooijakkers) and a couple of victories in 2024 (Puck Pieterse in the 4th Tour stage and Evy Kuijpers in GP Lucien Van Impe) and while a series of results are ongoing in cyclocross especially with Ceylin Alvarado (but watch out for Pieterse who started with a podium in Namur) the roster has changed little this winter in view of the next season: Petra Stiasny has moved to Roland and Greta Marturano (recently interviewed on Tuttobiciweb) to UAE, eliminating any trace of Italian athletes from this structure, Sanne Cant is retiring and Sophie Wright is no longer part of the team; 15 have been confirmed, while the sixteenth athlete will be an "internal promotion" from development, the 2005 class Xaydee Van Sinaey, also involved in cyclocross like other teammates. After all, we're talking about a specialty that in their parts is a national sport.

Here's the roster: Ceylin Alvarado, Yara Kastelijn, Puck Pieterse, Pauliena Rooijakkers, Aniek Van Alphen, Cecilia Van Zuthem, Annemarie Worst, Evy Kuijpers, Inge Van der Heijden, Flora Perkins, Millie Couzens, Xaydee Van Sinaey, Julie De Wilde, Marthe Truyen, Carina Schrempf, Christina Schweinberger

An additional Italian element is now present: during today's press conference, the triple, indeed quadruple jersey of the team, signed by Alé Cycling, was unveiled. Alongside the white jersey with rainbow that identifies Pieterse's Under 23 World Champion title (13th in the "single race" in Zurich, first among U23) there are three that will be alternated by the team during the year, in compliance with UCI rules on jersey changes in the same year. The most classic blue, the commodore green that directly recalls Fenix, and a brand new Namib red specially created by Alé. "Fenix Deceuninck has already entered my heart - Alessia Piccolo will confide in the backstage of an interview you can hear in full in Monday evening's BlaBlaBike podcast - because it's a growing reality with which we share values, passion for cycling and colors! Creating the Namibia wasn't simple, it's a brick red that testifies to the quality of Alé colors that I don't think many have. And we're already working on a new cashmere color, we'll see...

HERE's the continuation of the report with the big news about Annemiek Van Vleuten and more!


PHOTO by Photonewsbe