Tudor will make a lot of progress thanks to arrival of Hirschi and Alaphilippe: "Really believe in the project"

Tudor Pro Cycling is a team with big ambitions. One of the first big names to get involved was Matteo Trentin. For the Italian, the first season of Swiss service is complete. Thanks to the arrival of Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe, he sees that the formation is now really knocking at the WorldTour door.

Speaking with Bici.PRO, Trentin explains how Tudor Pro Cycling has progressed again. "Tudor has taken a big step forward. Not from a statistical point of view, because we won only two more races than in 2023. But we did achieve two successes in WorldTour events: in Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie." Sprinter Arvid de Kleijn was the strongest in Paris-Nice, while compatriot Maikel Zijlaard was also victorious in the prologue in Romandie.

For the Italian veteran, this was the first year at the professional level where he did not ride for a WorldTour team: was there a noticeable difference? "Actually, not. It's a little more difficult regarding the calendar because you must wait for invitations. This year, we didn't ride Paris-Roubaix or the Tour de France, but even at UAE Team Emirates, it wasn't a given to ride certain races, given the big selection. I rode more or less the same races as in 2023, but how I rode altered a bit."

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Arvid de Kleijn was the best in the second stage of Paris-Nice.

Hirschi will get more chances than at UAE: "Was big competition there to decide who is number two"

"At UAE, the rule was: if Pogacar was present, people were riding for him," Trentin explained. "At Tudor, we worked for Dainese during the Giro in the flat stages and for Storer in the mountain stages. In the two stages where I had more freedom, I tried to be in the breakaway to take my chances." Tudor has an excellent prospect for 2025, with Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe joining the team as two absolute standouts. "I think it's great that two riders of this stature are joining a ProTour team; it means they believe in the project."

Hirschi was already known to the Italian: they were teammates at the UAE Team Emirates. "With us, he will find more freedom and have the team at his disposal more than in the UAE. Even without Pogacar, that is still a team full of champions where there is a big competition to decide who is number two." Trentin hopes Alaphilippe can regain his old form in a new environment. "Alaphilippe showed that he is recovering after two complicated seasons. This year, he managed to win again, as in the Giro d'Italia. He ends up in a team where people will have a lot of confidence in him, which will help him tremendously."

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