Team Picnic PostNL () is a Dutch professional cycling team, competing at

UCI WorldTeam A UCI WorldTeam (2015–present), previously UCI ProTeam (2005–2014), is the term used by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to name a cycling team of the highest category in professional road bicycle racing, road cycling, the UCI World Tou ...

level. The team is managed by

Iwan Spekenbrink Iwan Spekenbrink (born 15 February 1976) is a Dutch cycling manager, who has been the team manager of UCI WorldTeam since the team's creation in 2005. He is also the president of the AIGCP AIGCP (Association International des Groupes Cyclistes Pr ...

. The title sponsors of the team are online supermarket and the Dutch mail, parcel and e-commerce company

PostNL PostNL N.V., commonly known as PostNL () (formerly TNT N.V.) is a Dutch mail, parcel and e-commerce company with operations mainly in the Benelux area. It provides universal delivery in the Netherlands, and is publicly listed at Euronext Amster ...

History

The team was founded in 2008 when

founded a small second division professional team under the name Team Skil-Shimano. Thanks to aggressive strategies during

Paris–Nice Paris–Nice is a professional road bicycle racing, cycling stage race in France, held annually since 1933. Raced over eight days, the race usually starts with a prologue in the Paris region and ends with a final stage either in Nice or on the ...

in 2008 and 2009, the team was awarded a wildcard for the

2009 Tour de France The 2009 Tour de France was the 96th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. It started on 4 July in the principality of Monaco with a individual time trial which included a section of the Circuit de Monaco. The race visite ...

, making it their first appearance in a Grand Tour. In 2010, Team Skil-Shimano added a Women’s program. Operating under the same umbrella and within the same structure; the idea of equality was paramount with the focus on one organisation. Around the same time, the team became an ambassador of Trees for All: and became the first in the peloton to compensate towards the CO2 emissions generated by its operation. In 2011, the team took its first Grand Tour win with sprint success on stage seven of the

Vuelta a España The Vuelta a España (; ) is an annual stage race, multi-stage bicycle racing, bicycle race primarily held in Spain, while also occasionally making passes through nearby countries. Inspired by the success of the Tour de France and the Giro d'Ital ...

, as

Marcel Kittel Marcel Kittel (born 11 May 1988) is a German former racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2011 and 2019 for the , and squads. As a junior, he specialised in time trials, even winning a bronze medal in the World Championships for cycli ...

delivered after an impressive lead-out from the team. This can be recognized as the starting point for the team’s reputation as becoming one of the best sprint trains in the peloton. After losing its sponsors at the end of 2011, the team adopted the name "Project 1T4i", standing for "team spirit, inspiration, integrity, improvement and innovation", until a new sponsor was secured. Ahead of the

Tour of Flanders The Tour of Flanders () may refer to the following cycle races: * Tour of Flanders (men's race) The Tour of Flanders (), also known as ''De Ronde'' (''"The Tour"''), is an annual road bicycle racing, road cycling race held in Belgium every spri ...

on 1 April 2012, the team became Team Argos-Shimano following the announcement of a three-year naming rights contract with the Argos North Sea Group, an oil company based in the Netherlands. In 2012, the team received their second wildcard invitation to the

2012 Tour de France The 2012 Tour de France was the 99th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. It started in the Belgian city of Liège on 30 June and finished on the Champs-Élysées stage in the Tour de France, Champs ...

, along with three French-registered teams: , and . In December 2012 it was announced that the team would compete at the World Tour level for the 2013 season. Two years after the team’s first Grand Tour win, they achieved their first major success in the

Tour de France The Tour de France () is an annual men's multiple-stage cycle sport, bicycle race held primarily in France. It is the oldest and most prestigious of the three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours, which include the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a ...

. Following an impressive lead-out and sprint to the line, Marcel Kittel took the team’s first Tour de France stage win at the opening stage on the island of Corsica, and with it the famous

yellow jersey The general classification of the Tour de France is the most important classification of the race and determines the winner of the race. Since 1919, the leader of the general classification has worn the yellow jersey ( ). History For the first t ...

. In September 2014 German shampoo manufacturer

Alpecin Alpecin is a German-based shampoo brand established in 1905 that is made specifically for men. Its manufacturer has claimed that the caffeine present in the formulation can help to reduce hair loss. From March 2018, the company was no longer allo ...

announced that they would co-sponsor the team alongside

Giant In folklore, giants (from Ancient Greek: ''wiktionary:gigas, gigas'', cognate wiktionary:giga-, giga-) are beings of humanoid appearance, but are at times prodigious in size and strength or bear an otherwise notable appearance. The word ''gia ...

for the 2015 season. In December 2014 Sunweb (a Dutch-owned international tour operator) was announced as a new major sponsor of the team, signing a 2-year deal. In 2015, the team created history by winning its first cycling

Monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, historical ...

with

John Degenkolb John Degenkolb (born 7 January 1989) is a German professional road bicycle racer, who rides for UCI WorldTeam . His biggest wins to date are the 2015 Milan–San Remo and the 2015 Paris–Roubaix, two of cycling's five Cycling monument, monuments ...

at Milano-Sanremo. Following on from success at Milano-Sanremo, the team collected their second Monument in as many months after winning Paris-Roubaix, otherwise known as the Hell of the North. On 23 January 2016 during training in Spain, six members of the team (

Warren Barguil Warren Barguil (; born 28 October 1991) is a French cyclist who rides for UCI WorldTeam . He is best known for winning two mountain stages and the Mountains classification in the Tour de France, mountains classification of the 2017 Tour de France ...

Max Walscheid Maximilian Richard "Max" Walscheid (born 13 June 1993) is a German cyclist, who currently rides for UCI WorldTeam Jayco-AlUla. Career Walscheid was born in Neuwied. On 23 January 2016, he was one of the six members of who were hit by a motoris ...

, Chad Haga, Fredrik Ludvigsson and

Ramon Sinkeldam Ramon Sinkeldam (born 9 February 1989) is a Dutch former cyclist, who competed as a professional from 2012 to 2024. Career Amateur career Born in Wormer, Sinkeldam rode for the for his entire amateur career, between 2007 and 2011. During this t ...

) were hit by a car that was driven by an English tourist, who turned the wrong way into on-coming traffic. For a time there was serious concern about some of them not only returning to ride in the 2016 season, but whether or not the accident might end their careers. Fortunately everyone recovered. On the first rest day of the

2016 Tour de France The 2016 Tour de France was the 103rd edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 stages, starting on 2 July in Mont Saint-Michel, Normandy, and concluding on 24 July with the Champs-Élysées s ...

, the team announced that Sunweb would become a named sponsor of the team for the 2017 season, and the team would move their registration from the Netherlands to Germany. At the beginning of 2017, Team Sunweb launched its Development Program alongside its Men’s and Women’s programs with the goal of sourcing and developing young international talents, bringing them up to the WorldTour. By 2025, the Development program has already promoted its 22nd talent to the pro’s. In 2017, Team Sunweb won its first Grand Tour: the

2017 Giro d'Italia The 2017 Giro d'Italia was the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The race started on 5 May in Alghero on the island of Sardinia, and ended on 28 May in Milan. The race was won by Tom Dumoulin, who became the ...

with

Tom Dumoulin Tom Dumoulin (; born 11 November 1990) is a retired Dutch professional road bicycle racer who last rode for UCI WorldTeam . He has won the Giro d'Italia and nine stages across the three Grand Tours, five medals in three different World Champion ...

. At the

2017 Tour de France The 2017 Tour de France was the 104th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's Grand Tours. The 21-stage race took place across , commencing with an individual time trial in Düsseldorf, Germany on 1 July, and concluding with the Champs ...

, the team won four stages and two major jerseys:

won the Mountains classification and Combativity Award while reaching 10th overall, and Michael Matthews won the Points classification. In September that year, the team collected three world titles in

Bergen Bergen (, ) is a city and municipalities of Norway, municipality in Vestland county on the Western Norway, west coast of Norway. Bergen is the list of towns and cities in Norway, second-largest city in Norway after the capital Oslo. By May 20 ...

, Norway. On the 17th of September, both the Men’s and Women’s programs become team time trial world champions. 3 days later, Tom Dumoulin writes history once again as the first Dutchman ever to become a world champion in the

individual time trial An individual time trial (ITT) is a road bicycle race in which cyclists race alone against the clock (in French: ''contre la montre'' – literally "against the watch", in Italian: ''tappa a cronometro'' "stopwatch stage"). There are also trac ...

. In 2018, the team continued to push for a cleaner sport and becomes the first WorldTour team with an additional and independent anti-doping program, in cooperation with the Dutch National Anti-Doping agency (“Dopingautoriteit”). In 2018 the team rode in support of Tom Dumoulin, who finished second in both the

2018 Giro d'Italia The 2018 Giro d'Italia was the 101st edition of the Giro d'Italia, one of cycling's Grand Tour races. The race started in Jerusalem on 4 May, with a individual time trial followed by two additional stages within Israel. After a rest day, there ...

and the

2018 Tour de France The 2018 Tour de France was the 105th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 race stage, stages, starting on 7 July in Noirmoutier-en-l'Île, in western France, and ...

. From the 2021 season, DSM took over title sponsorship of the team, with the name changing to Team dsm-firmenich in response to a company merger shortly before the

2023 Tour de France The 2023 Tour de France was the 110th edition of the Tour de France. It started in Bilbao, Spain, on 1 July and ended with the final stage at Champs-Élysées, Paris, on 23 July. Defending champion Jonas Vingegaard () won the General classifica ...

. In 2024,

joined dsm-firmenich as title partner. At the 2024 Tour de France,

Romain Bardet Romain Bardet (; born 9 November 1990) is a former French professional bicycle racing, racing cyclist who rode for UCI WorldTeam . Bardet is known for his climbing and descending abilities, which make him one of the top general classification cont ...

claimed the first yellow jersey of the race by winning the opening stage after a two-man breakaway with teammate Frank van den Broek, a Development Program graduate who made his debut at the biggest race in cycling. From the 2025 season, the online Dutch supermarket Picnic replaced dsm-firmenich as title sponsor. The official team name became Team Picnic PostNL, dsm-firmenich however remained an important partner of the team.

Team roster

Major wins

National and world champions

;2005 : Japan Road Race,

Hidenori Nodera is a Japanese former professional racing cyclist, who currently works as a directeur sportif for UCI Continental team . Career Born in Izu, Shizuoka Prefecture, Nodera graduated from Hosei University and became a professional in 1998 with Shima ...

;2008 : Japan Road Race,

;2012 : Japan Road Race,

Yukihiro Doi is a Japanese former professional racing cyclist, who rode professionally between 2004 and 2018. After graduating from Hosei University, he joined the Shimano Racing team in 2004. After that, Doi mostly raced abroad, finishing second in the Tour ...

;2014 : Dutch Time Trial,

;2015 :

Austria Time Trial, Georg Preidler ;2016 : Dutch Time Trial,

;2017 : Dutch Time Trial,

Austria Time Trial, Georg Preidler : Dutch Road Race,

World Team Time Trial : Jersey rainbow chrono

World Time Trial,

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Team Picnic PostNL UCI WorldTeams Cycling teams based in the Netherlands Cycling teams based in Germany Cycling teams established in 2005 Cycling teams established in 2015 2005 establishments in the Netherlands 2015 establishments in Germany