Alpecin stopped being just Mathieu van der Poel a long time ago. The team has won stages in nine grand tours in three weeks. The current world champion is the big star and has renewed for five seasons. But around it the structure does not stop growing. The latest example is Axel Laurence, the French sprinter who won the fifth stage of the Volta a Catalunya.
The 21-year-old Frenchman has moved on to professionals this season after already making some first steps last year and has shown in Viladecans that he does not fit in at all in one of the teams that still places great importance on preparing for the sprints. In addition to Van der Poel, it has the Belgian Philipsen, winner of four stages in the last Tour and the Milan-Sanremo in 2024, with the Australian Kaden Groves, who last year won three finishes in the Vuelta and one in the Giro, or Timo Kielich.
“It’s incredible, it’s my first victory in the World Tour on my debut,” said Laurence at the finish line, who was clear that there were a couple of stages that suited his legs. “I’m in good shape. I had marked the first stage and this fifth,” he revealed. In Sant Feliu de Guíxols he could only be fifth. In Viladecans he did win, with a final kidney blow, to beat Marijn van der Berg, the winner the day before.
The Frenchman ended up earning the opportunity to join the team after becoming world under-23 champion in Glasgow in August last year. Shortly before, their leader, Van der Poel, had won the absolute World Cup. Curiously, this Friday, in Belgium the Dutchman won the classic E3 Saxo in Harelbeke with an extraordinary attack over 40 km.
In the general classification, Pogacar remains the leader before Saturday’s queen stage in Berguedà, with five climbs, the third being the feared and unprecedented Coll de Pradell. The Alpecin does not have any cyclist among the top 75 overall. You can’t vacuum everything. And they prioritize sprints.
