The season of Team Picnic PostNL has not started under the best auspices. The Dutch team, in fact, at the time of writing, is the World Tour formation that has accumulated the fewest UCI points in this 2026 and the only one, among the teams competing in the top series, that has not yet managed to achieve even a single victory.

Fortunately for Iwan Spekenbrink and his men, the season is only in its infancy and there is no shortage of time to give a clear turnaround to their seasonal performance. Among the main candidates to take on this responsibility in the coming weeks is certainly Max Poole who, having lost Oscar Onley (who moved to INEOS Grenadiers last December), currently represents one of the most valuable cards at the disposal of the Dutch team.

The latter, after having weighed his qualities even more carefully in 2025, has decided once again to place the major stage races at the center of its program, the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta España, events where, according to Picnic and Poole himself, the time is ripe to see him achieve that top ten finish that he only narrowly missed last year.

"I think that over the last two years I have undoubtedly acquired a lot of experience and that now it's just a matter of putting all the pieces together and taking a step forward physically" said the 11th-place finisher in last year's Giro d'Italia, explaining to Domestique what he needs to achieve a top-ten finish in a Grand Tour.

"I'm a year older and a bit stronger, and I think that's the key: putting it all together, because I believe I can still get a lot more out of myself. I think we have time to succeed in this goal" continued the young British rider calmly, who does not believe that the departure of his "twin" Onley will affect the type of pressure and motivation he will have in the coming months.

"I already have plenty of motivation of my own: I want to achieve many results, the team has a lot of confidence in me and all the guys I race with support me greatly" clarified Poole who, once he has fully recovered from the effects of the Epstein-Barr virus that struck him a few months ago, also has a clear plan in mind on how to approach the races that will lead him to his major 2026 objectives.

"I think that in this first part of the season the result won't matter as much as the fact of getting back to racing. I'm motivated, but the most important thing is to reach the right condition to race and enjoy myself" clarified a Poole who, after being forced to skip the Paris-Nice, will do everything to soon become a protagonist again.