A season in transition - Jayco AlUla 2025 verdict

2024 saw 25 victories for the Australian team, with three Grand Tour stage wins. Dylan Groenewegen sprinted to victory at the Tour de France, while Eddie Dunbar had an excellent Vuelta a España with two stage wins.

With the departure of their GC star Simon Yates, the team brought in home rider Ben O’Connor to fill his shoes. The Australian had enjoyed a standout 2024 season, and Jayco AlUla hoped he could reach similar levels in 2025, which would be a resounding success for the team.

Groenewegen once more also provided the team with a strong card to play in the sprints, with the Dutchman still capable of landing a big victory.

The likes of Mauro Schmid, Luke Plapp and Eddie Dunbar were also riders who could look to make a big impact in 2025.

Wins: 19
UCI Ranking: 16th
The Verdict: 5.5/10

With 19 victories, including two stage wins at the Giro d’Italia and one at the Tour de France, Jayco AlUla ended the 2025 season 16th in the UCI rankings.

The team did feel the void left by Simon Yates from a GC perspective, as Ben O’Connor was unable to make a major impact in the overall rankings at the Tour de France, where he ended 11th, and at the Vuelta a España, where he abandoned in the second week. O’Connor’s Tour de France was still a success, though, as the Australian claimed a fine stage victory on the Col de la Loze on stage 18. There were also stage wins at the Giro d’Italia for both Luke Plapp and Chris Harper, who were two of the team’s highest points scorers across the campaign.

Michael Matthews was once more his consistent self, always competitive in the big one-day races. Meanwhile, Dylan Groenewegen had a quiet Tour de France with the team in his final season before moving to the Unibet Rose Rockets. The Dutch sprinter did take three victories across the season at the Tour de Hongrie and Tour de Slovenia.

Mauro Schmid was a standout rider for the team, starting well with victory at the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race. The Swiss rider also completed the double at his national championships, before finishing second in a two-up breakaway sprint at the Tour de France behind Jonas Abrahamsen on stage 11. Paul Double had an excellent debut season with the team, and Alan Hatherly combined his mountain bike and road schedules well. 

There was also upheaval during the season, with the surprise dismissal of Matt White ahead of the Giro d'Italia, and the year ended with anxiety over the team's future due to a delayed bank guarantee during their WorldTour licence application, though Jayco AlUla confirmed last week that they will continue for the next three years.

For the third time in four seasons, Michael Matthews has ended his campaign as Jayco AlUla’s highest UCI points scorer. What makes this year’s achievement more remarkable is the fact that Matthews missed a significant period of the season, including the Tour de France, after suffering a pulmonary embolism.

Barring Paris-Nice, Matthew’s season consisted entirely of one-day races, and in the Spring, Bling’s consistency shone through. Fourth at Milan-San Remo, 13th at the Tour of Flanders, fifth at the Amstel Gold Race, and 11th at Liège-Bastogne-Liège illustrate an incredible level of versatility and good form. 

Matthews would eventually be rewarded with victory at the Eschborn-Frankfurt, his final race before being diagnosed with a pulmonary embolism. Upon his return, almost four months later, Matthews was straight into the pointy end of the action with 8th at the Bretagne Classic, before finishing 9th at the GP Québec, a race he holds the record for most victories with three. Racing for his national team, Matthews was also part of Australia's victory at the Mixed Relay time trial World Championships in Kigali, Rwanda.

In the end of the season Italian Classics, Matthews finished fifth at both the Coppa Bernocchi and Gran Piemonte. Matthews even managed to finish 21st at Il Lombardia after spending the race in the breakaway, proving that at 35 years old, and after coming back from his prolonged absence, he is still one of the most valuable riders.

The Giro d’Italia proved to be a fruitful race for the Australian team. 2024 saw the team go winless at the Giro, having been successful for three consecutive years previously. 

There were two stage wins for the team via Luke Plapp on stage 8 and Chris Harper winning the penultimate stage, where the team’s former rider Simon Yates completed a dramatic comeback to seal the maglia rosa.

Both Plapp’s and Harper’s victories were emphatic, after long-range solo efforts, leaving the team able to come away from the Giro satisfied, in spite of a lack of a high GC position.

The signing of Paul Double from Team Polti Kometa may not have been on the radar of many, but the 29-year-old British rider enjoyed a strong debut season at the WorldTour level.

Double claimed his maiden professional victory at the Settimana Coppi e Bartali, before continuing to break new ground in Italy by making his Grand Tour debut at the Giro d’Italia.

The next big success for Double came in September at the Tour de Slovakia, where he powered to victory on the final stage’s summit finish, also sealing the general classification in the process.

Double then ended his stellar campaign on the highest note possible by winning the queen stage and general classification at the Tour of Guangxi, a WorldTour event. As far as debut seasons go in the WorldTour, Double more than proved he belongs at this level.

Christopher Juul-Jensen was the rider with the most race days for Jayco AlUla with 78 appearances.

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