Remarkable: Although the team only has a licence as an international second-class Pro Team, two-time road world champion Alaphilippe decided to move to Switzerland. "I didn't think about whether the team was in the World Tour or not when I made my decision - I relied on my gut feeling." The structure is good and he can have fun racing here, says the Frenchman.
A new start for Alaphilippe at the Tudor Pro Cycling Team?
The newcomer among the small pro teams scored a real coup - after Alaphilippe had been harshly criticised time and again by team boss Patrick Lefevere at Soudal - Quick Step. The spurned rider was looking for a fresh start. "I really sensed his motivation on the phone," reported Cancellara at the team presentation. The Swiss racing team wants to move up, Alaphilippe wants to get back to where he was at an advanced age.
In fact, the new signings at Tudor have shifted the balance of power in professional cycling. At his new employer, the now 32-year-old Frenchman will form a double lead with Marc Hirschi from Bern - another rider who is one of the favourites in the toughest races of the year. "The difference is that we have to ask for wildcards," explains Hirschi, who was guaranteed a start in all the important races with his previous team, UAE.
Wildcards thanks to the top stars?
Hirschi addressed the central problem at the team presentation on 7 January: Cancellara's men have little planning security. Team manager Raphael Meyer can only offer his riders a rudimentary racing calendar at the start of the year. Without a World Tour licence, they are dependent on invitations from race organisers, so-called wildcards - which only come gradually over the course of the season. But they are optimistic. "We will be contesting a complete Classics campaign for the first time," says Meyer - it sounds as if they have already received signals that the chances of taking part in Liège-Bastogne-Liège or Paris-Roubaix, for example, are not bad. In 2023, Team Tudor made its debut at Milan-San Remo, and last year it took part in the Tour of Flanders for the first time.
Is a start at the Tour de France possible?
In France, experts even believe that the team is capable of securing one of the two invitations to the Tour de France this year. Their main rivals are the up-and-coming Norwegian team Uno-X and the French team TotalEnergies. In comparison, Tudor has at least one more ace up its sleeve: After all, Alaphilippe is considered a crowd favourite and entertainer in his home country - he has already won six stages and wore the yellow jersey for 18 days. Perhaps the project will excite Tour boss Christian Prudhomme so much this year that he will invite the team onto the big stage in France this year.
Six Germans under contract with Tudor
The team also has great significance for German cycling: six riders come from Germany, including the man in the black, red and gold jersey of the national champion: 22-year-old Marco Brenner. Marius Mayrhofer, winner of the World Tour race Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race in early 2023, wants to get back on the road to success and is flirting with starting in the classics on the cobbles. They are joined by Florian Stork, who is well versed in the mountains, sprint rider Alexander Krieger and climbing talents Hannes Wilksch and Mika Heming. The Germans are benefiting from the rapid growth - especially as Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe is no longer emphasising the German rider market.
Delicate beginnings, rapid rise
It all began at Tudor in the 2022 season after Cancellara and his business partner Raphael Meyer, the current team manager, decided to take over the Swiss Racing Academy project for young riders, which was suddenly on the brink of collapse without funding. After starting out as a Conti team, the project is now in its third year as a pro team with increasingly ambitious goals.
No chance of a World Tour licence in 2026
Will the promotion continue so easily? When the accounts are settled at the end of 2025 after three years and the licences for the World Tour are reallocated on the basis of the points won, Tudor is unlikely to be there - the newcomers are too far behind to secure one of the first 18 places on the World Tour. Three-year evaluation of the teams to achieve. Team owner Cancellara was asked before the start of the season whether it was even a goal of his project to obtain a licence for the World Tour. "I don't believe that the World Tour will still exist in its current form in 2029," replied the former Olympic time trial champion. It would be the year in which the Tudor Pro Cycling Team could have a realistic chance of securing the top licence with a guaranteed start at all important races for the first time.
Through the back door into the World Tour?
However, there is still another chance to reach the upper echelons of world cycling: The UCI regulations leave a back door open to the World Tour races. Whoever is among the two best pro teams of the year in the 2025 season will be guaranteed a start in all major cycling races, including the Tour de France, in 2026. It is a realistic goal for the Tudor cyclists to achieve this qualification in 2025. "But we're not chasing the points," emphasises Cancellara. He and his team would just like to be ahead.
Andreas Kublik
Editor
