Alpecin-Fenix, 2021 UCI ProTeam’s ranking leader, at the 79th edition of the Tour de Pologne
The Belgian team will attend the 79th edition of the Polish race as best pro team of 2021
Warsaw, 18 February 2022 – The Alpecin-Fenix team has once again achieved the top spot as the best ProTeam in the UCI world rankings, receiving invitations, not mandatory, to all WorldTour races in 2022. The Tour de Pologne is part of the selection made by the Belgian team, led by Mathieu van der Poel, known for his direct approach to cycling, making multidisciplinary a fundamental value.
This season Alpecin-Fenix is 14 years old and has been a member of the UCI ProTeam for four years now. The man of the hour in this line-up is undoubtedly Mathieu van der Poel with his seven World Tour victories, both in the one-day Classics and in the Grand Tours stages. Still on the subject of speed and power, Tim Merlier and Jasper Philipsen are certainly the riders to beat for the fastest finishes of the season while Guillaume Van Keirsbulck and Julien Vermote play an important role in the Classics.
A team with multiple talents that over the last two years has had the chance to show their potential in the best races in the world and, of course, in the Tour de Pologne where the riders have always turned up pumped and ready to go. In 2021, Alpecin-Fenix took second place in the team classification and Johnas Rickaert took to the podium at the end of the KOM battle.
Alpecin-Fenix’s management team, Christoph & Philip Roodhooft say: “Last year our team in Poland did well with a rider placed 9th in the general classification and second in the team classification. Ranking second as a Pro Team after one week of racing at a WorldTour level with a number of high-profile riders on the start list, was truly a noteworthy achievement which we value a lot.”
The changes made to the Polish stage-race route and the difficulties introduced in the 79th edition will certainly be an additional stimulus for the participating teams as Alpecin-Fenix’s management confirms: “As for this year’s edition, we are excited to be invited back to the race for the second time in a row after having won the UCI Europe Tour again. Towards the end of the Tour de Pologne, we will be racing on familiar ground in a beautiful region, but it will be equally interesting to discover some new roads in a different part of the country. We will line-up with a strong team for the race with riders eager to get the best possible result on each of the seven stages.” concluded Christoph & Philip Roodhooft
‘The Alpecin-Fenix team is very promising.’ explains Czeslaw Lang, General Director of the Tour de Pologne. ‘They’re getting better and better year after year. In 2021, during the 78th edition of the Tour de Pologne, their riders proved that they have what it takes to compete at the highest level and compete for the general team classification.’
Winning such an important ranking twice is no accident. It means an extraordinary effort both as individual and as a team as well as a constant commitment to the competition with some of the strongest riders in the pro peloton.
See you soon at the 79th edition of the Tour de Pologne!