If there’s one squad in the 2023 WorldTour with a focus on youth, it’s Team DSM, who employ 22 riders aged 25 or under at the start of the new season.
The philosophy of developing their own riders from promising youngsters to stars has served the German team well in the past, with a long list of riders including Marcel Kittel, Tom Dumoulin, John Degenkolb, Warren Barguil, Jai Hindley, Michael Storer, and Marc Hirschi travelling that path before moving elsewhere.
That hasn’t changed this year, either, with Dutch climber Thymen Arensman transferring to Ineos Grenadiers after a breakthrough Vuelta a España and Danish all-rounder Søren Kragh Andersen off to Alpecin-Deceuninck following a few years of stagnation.
Year after year, the strategy has paid off, with the team reaping the benefits of internal development and replacing departing stars with a new batch of young riders ready to take up the mantle. But is the approach starting to falter?
In 2020, Team DSM won 16 times and ranked as fifth in the world, with three Tour de France stage wins, La Flèche Wallonne plus two podium spots at the Giro d’Italia. This year, they start the season with none of the riders who accomplished those lofty achievements, and following two seasons in which they’ve ranked 21st and 20th in the world.
Their 2022 UCI points haul of 4,711 was bettered by both relegated squads, Lotto-Dstny and Israel-Premier Tech, and they stood above only Astana Qazaqstan among WorldTour teams.
This year, the scorers of 2,137 of those points have moved elsewhere, as Arensman, Kragh Andersen and Nikias Arndt transfer away. 2023 could be a make-or-break year for the DSM model.
“Yes, we lost already a lot of names that we developed in the past,” team directeur sportif Roy Curvers told Cyclingnews late last year. “But we lost also a lot of names that started with us as no-names, and then developed and became really good riders with us, scoring really good points.
“We have to take steps with a young group of guys. You cannot rush to put them on the highest podium or in the races that give the highest points. But I think when these guys develop three years more, they will score more points every year. And in that way, we will not be so afraid that in three years we are again facing relegation.”
In response to recent hardships, the team has leant into their philosophy harder than ever before, recruiting eight neo-pros, meaning they start the year with only four riders aged 30 or more.
Two of those veterans…
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