Team Picnic PostNL look ahead to the 2026 campaign

With not long to go until the first pedal strokes are made at the opening races of the 2026 season, Team Picnic PostNL gathered in Calpe with all three of their programs – Development, Men and Women – to finalise their preparations for the upcoming year.

From the bone-shaking cobbles in the spring, to the world-attention-grabbing races of the summer, to the beautiful end of season races: an exciting year of racing lies ahead of Team Picnic PostNL. With goals and ambitions spread throughout the calendar, the team will proudly take part in races across the world, while sharing their central Keep Challenging philosophy and development focus, as one of the most productive talent-finding teams in the peloton.

A familiar look, Keep Challenging stripes remain prominent

After a big rebrand and change to the team’s look and feel for the 2025 season as they became Team Picnic PostNL, thanks to two strong title partners in Picnic and PostNL, the 2026 campaign will see the team adorn a very similar design and colour scheme. Doing so, they keep that strong identity with their two Keep Challenging stripes which have featured on the kit since 2014, highlighting the team’s continuous development of each individual and their ever-improving innovative environment.

Clear and vibrant amongst the colourful peloton: fans, commentators and pundits alike won’t have to re-adjust for the 2026 campaign as they can expect to see the two orange stripes from those helicopter shots on even the foggiest of days.

Click here to view more photos of the kit.

Furthermore, we’re delighted to reveal two new exciting partnerships for 2026 as we welcome Raisin and Michelin onboard. Click through on their names to read exactly what each partnership means to us.

Continuing a GC, sprint and development focus for Men’s program

As in previous years, the team will approach racing with a focus on two different pillars throughout the season, GC and sprints, as they continue to hunt success and push each other to the next level.

Speaking about the Men’s program Team Picnic PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna expressed: “In 2026 we want to continue to be competitive in the biggest races on the calendar and in the events where the parcours suit our strengths. We have an exciting young group of climbing talent that can continue to grow, and has been reinforced with some experience, while we also want to further develop our sprint train that saw us take success at the Giro d’Italia and earn compliments from the peloton at the Tour de France.”

“The Giro d’Italia will follow a similar outlook as to last year, where we will aim to build on the 11^th place we achieved on GC with Max, and we will return to the race with stage-winner Casper to go for the sprints once more.”

Kemna continued: “Our summer at the Tour de France will be one where we target stage success and look to further build on our strong sprint core which saw us achieve several top five results last year; with Pavel Bittner returning to the race and hungry to go a few steps higher. Likewise, we will also analyse the parcours well to look for opportunities on the hillier and mountainous stages.”

Rounding out the Men’s program Kemna said: “Ending the Grand Tour season at the Vuelta, we will see how Max has dealt with the load from the Giro d’Italia and decide whether we go for another GC bid or focus solely on-stage results. Nonetheless, it’s a good opportunity for some of our young talents to get the taste of three-week racing, or for others to further make the next steps, where we will also look for our chances each day to hunt for the best result possible.”

“Alongside the three-week races, we believe that the group we have can take wins throughout the season in a variety of different races, whether that be day-results in stage-races or showing ourselves in the one-day races too.”

Looking to the future with our Women’s program

Speaking about the Women’s program Kemna continued: “2025 was a somewhat transitional year for our Women’s program but we’re excited at the new opportunities that lay ahead of us in 2026.

“We have a re-structured sprint group where Rachele will get more chances as our fast finisher this season, alongside Mia, who brings a lot of speed and talent from her time on the track.”

“With some better luck than last year, then in the spring classics we also have a group that can be towards the fore in the events that suit us, with Pfeiffer bringing a lot of experience and ability, that belies her 25-years-of-age as she continues to develop as a rider.

“Looking to our GC group, we saw Eleonora take big steps last season to perform at a consistent level throughout the year with some impressive rides. For 2026, we want to continue that trajectory with her and make steps alongside Eleonora to compete for top ten overall in climbing-focused stage races. We also of course have Mara, who in her first year with us showed real talent and potential, before her crash at the Tour of Britain. Still on the road to recovery, we believe that with her spirit and determination she too can get back to that high level in the future. We have recruited Dilyxine to the squad as well, who is an exciting punchy climber, that we think has a lot of untapped potential so are excited to work with her on the next steps; while other new recruit Megan, who joins the elite level straight from the juniors, will be given the time and space to grow and develop at her own rate, without any pressure or expectations on results in her first years with us.”

A conveyer belt of talent; Team Picnic PostNL Development program’s success story

Starting with humble beginnings back in 2017, the Development program has continued to produce and develop world-class athletes every year since its inception – with a total of 23 riders making the step-up to the Men’s program directly. If you also include the two future promotions of Milan De Ceuster and Mees Vlot in 2027, then it takes it up to 25 riders that have made the step directly to World Tour with the team. Looking even further afield, in its time the team has also provided the base for riders to turn pro with other World Tour or Pro Tour teams, with a total of eight riders doing that just that thus far.

Team Picnic PostNL head coach Rudi Kemna proudly reflected: “Our Development program is one of the pillars of our success as a team over the years; helping our young talents grow and flourish. For us, it is about getting to know the riders as people and we like to give them the opportunity to make mistakes without any pressure. So far, we’ve now delivered 23 talents to our Men’s program, something we are exceptionally proud of, and we would like to build further on this after more successful seasons in the future. This year we’ve brought in some new faces, but we believe that we have a nice mix of not only riders, but also personalities, so we can continue their broader development on and off the bike as they make the step from teenage boys into young men”