Picnic PostNL rejects reports of a drop to ProTeam level

Picnic PostNL have dismissed reports that they are considering stepping down from the WorldTour for 2027.

Velo-Club.fr reported this week that the team was weighing ProTeam status, which would lighten their calendar and give them a choice over which races they ride. A WorldTour licence obliges a team to start every WorldTour race bar one. A spokesperson told WielerFlits the suggestion is wrong.

“That is not true,” the spokesperson said. “We are simply busy with preparations for 2027 as a WorldTour team for men and women.”

The speculation has a basis. When the UCI allocated licences for the 2026 to 2028 cycle last December, Picnic PostNL were the only one of the 18 men’s teams granted a single year rather than three. The same applied to the women’s squad.

“The UCI Licence Commission has decided to limit the duration of the licence to one year and to set conditions related to the financial criterion that must be met in order to permit its extension to the 2027 and 2028 seasons,” the governing body said at the time.

The team met the sporting threshold. The issue was financial, and the conditions attached have to be satisfied before a licence for the next two years is granted.

Iwan Spekenbrink’s squad has also lost its leaders. Oscar Onley, fourth at the 2025 Tour de France, is long gone from the team after joining Netcompany-Ineos for 2026. 

Fabio Jakobsen left for Visma-Lease a Bike in August after agreeing to terminate his contract on 31 July. Nils Eekhoff is set to join Decathlon CMA CGM, Pavel Bittner moves to Pinarello Q36.5 and Pfeiffer Georgi, over on the women's side, moves to UAE Team L’IMAD.

Against that, the team have signed ten riders for 2027, including development squad graduates Mees Vlot and Milan de Ceuster. The pattern follows last winter, when most of their eight signings came from Continental and under-23 level.

The development team stays at Continental level in 2027, leaving the structure unchanged on paper.