The Tudor Pro Cycling team want to target the Tour de France and the Classics with new team leaders Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi but admit they have to hope and wait for wildcard invitations.
Team owner Fabian Cancellara was in Paris in December according to L'Equipe but refused to be drawn on if Tudor had secured a golden ticket wildcard invitation to the 2025 Tour de France.
The 18 WorldTour teams have automatic invitations to the Tour, with Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech awarded invitations due to their 2024 UCI team ranking. French ProTeam DirectEnergies are expected to again secure a wildcard, leaving Tudor, Uno-X Mobility and perhaps Q36.5 fighting for the final golden ticket to the biggest race of the season. Tour de France organisers ASO are likely to announce the 2025 wildcards later in January.
"We'd like to do Grand Tours and Ardennes Classics, but it's not up to us. We know who we are, what we can do and how we approach things, we're on our road, so let's see if it's yes or no," Cancellara said during the team's media day in Spain.
Whatever races Tudor compete at in 2025, they will chase UCI ranking points to try to finish amongst the best two ProTeams to secure the automatic WorldTour invitations for 2026.
"We definitely have ambition. I think we'll reach the goal to be in the top two ProTeams so we can talk about a different race calendar, so planning is much easier," Cancellara said.
"We'll go to Paris-Nice, that's official but the rest is pending, and we respect that. There are rumours and reports but we'll respect our plans. I think we have a promising calendar.
Tudor convinced the Serawa hotel in Moraira, along the coast from Calpe, to open just for them in December and January. The team has grown to near 130 riders and staff for 2025, close to the size of many WorldTour teams, as their ambitions grow.
As well as Alaphilippe and Hirschi, the 30 rider-roster includes Marco Haller, the USA's Larry Warbasse, Australian stage racer Michael Storer, and sprinters Arvid de Kleijn and Alberto Dainese.
Alaphilippe seemed back to his usually happy self when he returned from a two-hour recovery ride before the Tudor media day.
The 32-year-old Frenchman left Soudal-QuickStep after a ten-year spell, to reboot his career at Tudor following injuries, a lack of results and tension with Patrick Lefevere.
Alaphilippe can surely help convince ASO to invite Tudor to the Tour de France, where has won six stages and worn the yellow jersey but also refused to put pressure on ASO.
"It was a good moment for a big change in my career," he said.
"When I was in touch with the team, I really appreciated that they really wanted me and the philosophy of the team. They know what they want and what they want to do. I'm super happy with my decision and I'm excited and motivated to start this new adventure."
Alaphilippe will make his debut in the Tudor black and red jersey in Portugal at the Figueira Champions Classic on February 16 and then ride the Volta ao Algarve.
Hirschi will make his season debut at the Challenge Mallorca. Other riders will race in Spain in January and then at the AlUla Tour in Saudi Arabia. Tudor have requested places in lots of major races and hope to race a full cobbled and Ardennes Classics programme, but their fate and race programmes are in the hands of the race organisers.
"It's important [to] be good all year," Hirschi said, hinting at the need to score UCI ranking points.
"We have many different leaders, so we hope to have lots of opportunities. If we can race the Ardennes, that [will] be my big goal. I want to improve as a rider and do some nice races."
The Frenchman dismissed the risk of an internal rivalry with Hirschi.
"It's a luxury problem to have," Alaphilippe added.
"I hope we'll have many positive replies from race organisers to do all the races we want, so we can do what we want to do. The team goals [are] the priority.
"We're intelligent and mature enough to get along. I'll always be happy to see Marc winning and achieving his goals. There won't be any fighting."
