What is good to know about Team dsm-firmenich PostNL

Maxim Horssels •
Wednesday January 10, 2024 at 11:20 AM

Team DSM-firmenich PostNL is taking a slightly different tack this year. A new second main sponsor (PostNL), a new corporate identity (from black and blue to a lot of white, light blue and orange) and the arrival of a top sprinter (Fabio Jakobsen). The ambitions and expectations for cycling year 2024 were explained at their media day in Calpe, Spain. CyclingFlits was there.

What are the goals for 2024?

“We just want to win games. That’s the goal.” Sporting director Rudi Kemna is remarkably clear when we ask about the goals for 2024. In recent years, the team sometimes seemed to prefer to avoid this question, but that is not the case now. The team wants to win stages. With the arrival of top sprinter Jakobsen, they have acquired a major asset that can achieve the necessary victories.

He is building up to two major tours via the Tour of Oman, UAE Tour and Paris-Nice, among others. In the Giro d’Italia he can complete the trilogy after previous stage victories in the Tour de France and Vuelta a España. Together with Romain Bardet and Warren Barguil, Jakobsen is also assured of a selection spot for the Tour, in which new stage victories are the main goal. All three already have stage victories in the Tour to their name.

That means no classification ambitions for Bardet. The French star, together with Barguil, who has returned to the team, aims to participate in long breakaways that can ultimately compete for day victories. In the Giro, Bardet will normally aim for a top ranking in the general classification.

For the young guard, 2024 will also be all about further development. The team hopes to allow future classification men Max Poole and Oscar Onley to take the next step without too much pressure, and this also applies to sprinter Casper van Uden.

Last year, Team dsm-firmenich finished in seventeenth place in the WorldTour ranking. In the promotion-and-relegation danger zone, in other words. But the team is not too worried. Just like in previous years, they expect to obtain sufficient points without any problems. Newcomer Timo Roossen agrees. “There has not been any discussion about UCI points yet.”

What is the plan with the sprint train?

Team DSM-firmenich PostNL has become a sprint team again, just like they were in the years of Marcel Kittel. The sprint project, which sports director Roy Curvers is in charge of, has eleven riders. Men such as Timo Roosen, Julius van den Berg and Bram Welten have been contracted to shape the sprint train.

The first races of the season should show what the best composition of the new sprint train will be for Jakobsen. Men like John Degenkolb, Nils Eekhoff and Alex Edmondson will also have a role in the sprint train, especially in the Grand Tours. Riders and team management do not know how much time they expect to need to set up the new sprint team. The most optimistic expectation is two months.

Pavel Bittner, who was sometimes played as a sprinter last season, is given a new role on the train. The team does not see him as the finisher. You can see that in newcomer Emīls Liepiņš. “We think he is undervalued and has been used in a different way than possible,” Kemna explains. “Not that he will just become our first sprinter. But we think he has decent potential.” The same also applies to Van Uden, who will get a new chance as a finisher in the AlUla Tour.

Which sponsors are new?

One sponsor has joined this year, a second main sponsor. The listed PostNL is affiliated with the team for three seasons. The team still has an ongoing relationship with all other major sponsors and partners. The bicycles are from Scott, the wheels from Syncros, components from Shimano, glasses from Driive and clothing from Nalini.

Partly due to the joining of PostNL, a completely new corporate identity has been developed. After the dark colors of recent years, in which black and dark blue were the main shades, lighter colors have now been chosen. Lots of white, blue and orange. The two signature Keep Challenging stripes – which symbolize the team’s DNA – are colored orange.