No Strade Bianche, but Gravel for Mathieu van der Poel: teammate Tibor Del Grosso makes WorldTour debut

Van der Poel logged his first road race kilometers of 2025 at the Ename Samyn Classic on Tuesday. The Dutchman added the race to his schedule at the last minute and admitted he would have liked to race Strade Bianche as well. However, choices had to be made. "Unfortunately, I have to make choices, and that also includes altitude training," he explained after his victory in the Ename Samyn Classic in Dour on Tuesday.

So, on Saturday, there was no Strade Bianche for Van der Poel, but he went out for a gravel ride in Belgium with a few cycling friends instead. He shared a photo from the ride on Instagram. Following Tirreno-Adriatico, the Alpecin-Deceuninck leader will shift his focus to Milan-Sanremo. In Tirreno-Adriatico, he will race alongside Sam Gaze, Robbe Ghys, Gal Glivar, Johan Price-Pejtsersen, Xandro Meurisse, and Gianni Vermeersch. The latter delivered a strong performance in Strade Bianche, securing a top-10 finish in the absence of his team's main leader.

Meanwhile, Alpecin-Deceuninck will line up in Paris-Nice with Del Grosso, who will make his WorldTour debut in the French stage race. In-form Timo Kielich and Algarve revelation Luca Vergalitto will also be on the team, along with Tobias Bayer, Ramses Debruyne, Edward Planckaert, and Oscar Riesebeek.

Mathieu van der Poel
Sam Gaze
Robbe Ghys
Gal Glivar
Xandro Meurisse
Gianni Vermeersch
Johan Price-Pejtersen

Tobias Bayer
Ramses Debruyne
Timo Kielich
Edward Planckaert
Luca Vergalitto
Tibor Del Grosso
Oscar Riesebeek