{"id":26653,"date":"2025-07-27T06:22:08","date_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/26653\/"},"modified":"2025-07-27T06:22:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-27T06:22:08","slug":"its-almost-unbelievable-desperate-for-a-sponsor-alpecin-deceuninck-keep-winning-at-tour-de-france","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/26653\/","title":{"rendered":"‘It’s almost unbelievable’ – desperate for a sponsor, Alpecin-Deceuninck keep winning at Tour de France"},"content":{"rendered":"

Alepcin-Deceuninck <\/a>have experienced the full range of emotions at this Tour de France<\/a>. They won stages one and two, were in the yellow and green jerseys, but then their two star men, Jasper Philipsen<\/a> and Mathieu van der Poel,<\/a> went home. The former with a broken collarbone<\/a> and the latter with pneumonia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Rebounding from such heavy exits would be a difficult talk for any of the Tour\u2019s 23 teams but especially Alpecin. Their identity is Van der Poel and Philipsen, and they don\u2019t make any attempt at pretending otherwise.<\/p>\n

But as a weary, exhausted peloton heads to Paris and 14 teams remain winless, Alpecin picked up their third win of the race through sprinter-cum-rouleur Kaden Groves in Pontarlier on stage 20<\/a>. Only Soudal Quick-Step<\/a> (4) and UAE Team Emirates-XRG (5) have won more stages. It\u2019s the team of Van der Poel and Philipsen, but Groves is more than a capable understudy; his win in the rolling hills of the Jura mountains ensured that he became the 114th rider to secure the trilogy of Grand Tour stage victories.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI am incredibly happy and incredibly proud of this team,\u201d the emotional Australian, 26, said at the finish. \u201cWe\u2019ve had quite a rollercoaster Tour. On a personal note, I\u2019ve not been sprinting super well \u2013 I\u2019ve been missing raw speed \u2013 but in the third week of the Grand Tour, I finished the mountains well and today we thought I\u2019d try my chance in the breakaway.\u201d<\/p>\n

What transpired \u2013 winning alone by 54 seconds after going free with 15km to go, when fellow escapees Frank van den Broek and Jake Stewart looked at one another \u2013 was an eventuality he had never thought possible. \u201cI think that\u2019s something that might not happen again for me \u2013 it\u2019s incredible to win solo. It\u2019s certainly a different emotion to a bunch sprint. In a bunch sprint you don\u2019t have time to think, and today was a situation I\u2019ve never been in before. I just focused on arriving to the line and thought that I\u2019d enjoy it afterwards. The final kilometre was certainly not enjoyable.”<\/p>\n

Groves\u2019s last eight eight victories have all come in three-week races. He\u2019s the man for the big stage \u2013 just like his departed leaders. \u201cHaving won in the Giro d\u2019Italia<\/a> and Vuelta a Espa\u00f1a<\/a>, all I ever get asked is, \u2018am I good enough to win the Tour?\u2019 And yeah, now I have them.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s almost unbelievable,\u201d his team\u2019s lead sports director Christoph Roodhooft commented. \u201cWe know he\u2019s a strong rider but the way he did it was exceptional. We knew [winning stage 20] was within his possibilities but I have to be honest and say I did not really believe in it. But parcours-wise it was possible and he proved it. He\u2019s more of a very strong rider than a pure sprinter. As a sprinter he doesn\u2019t maybe have the highest speed that\u2019s needed but as a normal rider he\u2019s extremely strong.\u201d<\/p>\n

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And yet despite Alpecin\u2019s latest triumph, there is a but. A thorn in their side, one that won\u2019t dislodge itself. Deceuninck are withdrawing their title sponsorship at the end of this season after four years, and to date the Roodhooft brothers (Philip is the other) have been unable to find a replacement. They will be able to continue operating in 2026, but beyond that they can\u2019t rely on only having Alpecin as their only named sponsor.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s indicative of cycling\u2019s monetary landscape<\/a> and economic model that the Tour\u2019s third winningest team, and the squad of one of the most marketable and recognisable figures in the sport, face such financial struggles.<\/p>\n

Will Groves\u2019s win help their search, Roodhooft was asked. He looked at the reporter and walked off towards another interview, throwing his hands in the air. Today was not the time to discuss that, was the message, but he couldn’t help himself. \u201cThe fact that we have to look for one is maybe already an answer,\u201d he eventually replied, clearly exasperated with the situation they find themselves in.<\/p>\n

When Alpecin-Deceuninck<\/a> party in Paris after stage 21, they\u2019ll do so without their two talisman, but in Groves they\u2019ve got a third player who is astute at winning the big prizes, too. Amidst the highs are deep concerns, but for they\u2019ll try to park those fears for one extra day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we have to be very grateful for what we\u2019ve achieved in this Tour de France,\u201d Roodhooft added. \u201cWe worked hard for it of course but it\u2019s unbelievable.\u201d They may even bookend the Tour with two stage wins. \u201cHopefully I\u2019ll have the legs for it,\u201d Groves said of the Montmartre course<\/a> in Paris. He definitely has the pedigree.<\/p>\n

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Tour de France<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Alepcin-Deceuninck have experienced the full range of emotions at this Tour de France. They won stages one and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26654,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-26653","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26654"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}