Alpecin-Deceuninck says goodbye to team legend with win on Italian gravel, Del Grosso joins world champion on the podium

On Friday, 30-year-old Quinten Hermans completed his last race for Alpecin-Deceuninck, where he has become a fixture and team legend under the Roodhooft brothers over the past eight seasons. He did not even do so by winning very often, as Hermans won his fifth race for his Belgian team with the Serenissima Gravel.

The rider made a much bigger impression as a super-domestique for, among others, team leader Mathieu van der Poel. Think of his eleventh and sixth places in the 2023 and 2024 editions of Paris-Roubaix, the editions that Van der Poel won. In 2026, the Belgian will ride for Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, where he signed a one-year contract.

When he crossed the finish line, there was a burst of applause, undoubtedly directed at his team, which has consistently supported him in recent years. Quinten Hermans won a man-to-man battle in Italy against Florian Vermeersch, who was unable to overtake Gianni in the winding streets of Cittadella. The rainbow jersey bowed its head prematurely.

“This is wonderful. In my last race for the team, I was eager to perform well, and as a team we did well. We always had someone at the front, and in the end everything fell into place,” said winner Hermans after the race. "I'm ready for a vacation now; it's been a long and tough season.

The battle for third place was also a man-to-man battle, this time between two talents for the future. Del Grosso won on behalf of the same Alpecin-Deceuninck team against 24-year-old Jenno Berckmoes of Lotto. In 2026, this will normally be combined with the current Intermarché-Wanty, as a merger of Lotto-Intermarché.