2025 Preview #24 – Team Picnic PostNL

2024, on an upward slope

The past few seasons have been very complicated for Picnic PostNL, who had become one of the weakest teams among the World Tour peloton. However, 2024 was better for the Dutch team, who managed to win 22 times, their best total since 2014. The most beautiful of them was undeniably the win of Romain Bardet on the first stage of the Tour de France, ahead of his teammate Frank van den Broek. This allowed the Frenchman to wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career, on his last Tour de France. Bardet also managed to finish second at Liège–Bastogne–Liège and ninth at the Giro, showing that he was still the most reliable leader of dsm-firmenich in world-class races.

Nevertheless, two young British climbers also started to perform well this year for Iwan Spekenbrink’s team: Oscar Onley and Max Poole. The former won at World Tour level in 2024 during the Tour Down Under before finishing in the top 10 at the Tour de Suisse and second at the Tour of Britain while the latter showed his abilities in the mountains of La Vuelta, where he recorded four stage podiums.

The youth generation of dsm-firmenich is also achieving in the sprint arena, in contrast with Fabio Jakobsen who had a terrible season, only winning once in Turkey. Indeed, the Czech Pavel Bittner surprised everyone by winning a bunch sprint during La Vuelta while Casper Van Uden and Tobias Lund Andresen respectively raised their arms four and six times throughout the season. These good results gave dsm-firmenich some grace in the race to avoid relegation to ProConti level as they finished 16^th in the UCI classification and now have approximately 3000 points of advantage over Arkéa-B&B in the coefficient ranking.

An extremely calm interseason

With only three arrivals and three departures this winter, Picnic PostNL is the World Tour team that changed the least between 2024 and 2025. As usual with the Dutch team, the few recruits are young riders, who will try to develop at the highest level of cycling.

The major common point of all these riders is their age, as they are all 20 years old. Among them, the Colombian Guillermo Juan Martinez is maybe the most well-known by the cycling fans, as he rounded up the Giro Ciclistico della Valle d’Aosta – a famous U23 Italian race – in sixth place overall, along with winning the KOM jersey. Alongside Martinez, Robbe Dhont and Bjoern Koerdt are the two other new riders for Picnic PostNL. The former was part of the development team of the Dutch formation last season and already rode with the World Tour team a few times in the past. His new teammate Koerdt will add to Picnic’s British contingent as the man of Leeds will discover the professional level.

A last dance for Bardet

2025 will mark the end of the career of one of the greatest climbers of the last decade. At 34 years old, Romain Bardet has decided to conclude his professional career after the Critérium du Dauphiné, with the objective of remaining competitive until the end.

Bardet began his professional career in 2012, with AG2R La Mondiale. The Frenchman soon revealed his big talent in the mountains and quickly became the leader of his team, especially at the Tour de France. His two consecutive podiums in his National Grand Tour along with his four stage wins gave him a particular place in the hearts of cycling fans, especially in France. Since joining DSM - now PicNic PostNL - in 2021, Bardet continued his great results, winning a stage during La Vuelta and bringing home the general classification of the Tour of the Alps.

In 2024, despite announcing the end of his career, the native of Brioude managed some great results throughout the year and was one of the most important riders for his team. Despite beginning the season in France where he was unable to find victory, he re-established himself during the Tour of the Alps with a fifth place overall. Before taking on the Giro, the 2018 World vice-champion took on one of his favourite races, Liège-Bastogne-Liège. During ‘the Old Lady’, the Frenchman managed to sneak out of the chasing group to claim a second-place finish, behind Tadej Pogačar. At the Italian Grand Tour, his main objective of the season, Bardet finished ninth and came close to victory in Bocca della Selva, after a breakaway that allowed him to move back into the top ten. Finally, at the Tour de France, the French rider wrote an important page of his legend as he resisted the peloton with his teammate Franck van den Broek to claim victory on the first stage and, by consequence, wear the yellow jersey for the first time in his career, in his final Tour.

In 2025, Romain Bardet chose to aim for the Giro, with the objective of raising his arms to enter the circle of stage winners at all three Grand Tours. Before that, the former Polka Dot jersey of the Tour de France will take on the Tour of the Alps and Liège-Bastogne-Liège, in a similar calendar to that of 2024. Finally, Bardet will say goodbye to the professional peloton at the end of the Critérium du Dauphiné, in which a stage will depart from his native town, Brioude.

The youth takes over

Historically, Picnic PostNL have always been known as a team that gives chances to young riders, allowing them to develop at the highest level of cycling. In 2025, this scheme could be repeating again, as a few young riders of the team already showed last season that they were able to compete against the best in the World, in different fields.

With the retirement of Romain Bardet in June, the team will have to find a new leader for general classifications and hilly races. The young British duo of Oscar Onley and Max Poole could very well take on this role, as the two young climbers showed their talent in 2024. At 22 years old, Onley has already tasted victory at World Tour level. The rider from Kelso raised his arms at the top of Willunga Hill during last year’s Tour Down Under. After a season where he discovered the Tour de France and recorded a top ten overall at the Tour of Poland and the Tour de Suisse, the young Brit should take on the biggest race of the world again in 2025, this time perhaps in a leadership role. His teammate and countryman Max Poole will have a different schedule this season. The winner of the latest Tour of Langkawi will discover the Giro in May before taking on La Vuelta again, a race where he shone last season. The rider from Scunthorpe did not win at the Spanish Grand Tour last year but scored four stage podiums, even finishing third in the points classification. Overall, the end of the season was reassuring for the 21-year-old, especially after his terrible crash during Tirreno-Adriatico that cost him much of his season.

Picnic PostNL also have very good young prospects in the sprint area who could challenge the team's primary sprinter, Fabio Jakobsen. Indeed, the Dutch rider did not have a good season last year and did not start 2025 any better during the AlUla Tour, his best result an eleventh-place finish on the first stage. Behind him, a few young sprinters could take his place, including Tobias Lund Andresen. The Dane already raised his arms in 2025, at the Surf Coast Classic. Last season, he also triumphed three times during the Tour of Turkiye, a race where he was supposed to be Jakobsen’s lead-out man. The 22-year-old is expected at the Tour de France this season alongside Jakobsen but he could very well take his place as the number one sprinter in the team. In addition to Andresen, Casper Van Uden and Pavel Bittner could also take their chance to become the number one sprinter of the team in 2025. Indeed, while the former scored four times last season, his Czech teammate raised his arms at the Vuelta, reocrding the best result of his young career.

 Enjoyed this? Check out our previous men's WT previews:

Alpecin-Deceuninck, Arkéa-B&B Hotels, Astana Qazaqstan, Bahrain-Victorious, Cofidis, Decathlon-AG2R La Mondiale, EF Education-EasyPost, Groupama-FDJ, INEOS Grenadiers, Intermarché-Wanty, Lidl-Trek, Movistar, Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe, Soudal-QuickStep, Team Jayco AlUla