Night at the Museum: Van Rysel paint Roubaix pink with a new bike, kit and long-term sponsorship of Van Rysel-Roubaix
The third-tier team remain true to their roots and have big ambitions for the future
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Last Friday, we were in Roubaix, France, for the launch of the 2025 Van Rysel-Roubaix team, and we spoke to riders, staff, and Nicolas Pierron, the CEO at Van Rysel, about the long-term contract that the bike brand has signed with the team.
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This article was produced in association with Van Rysel
La Piscine - Musée d'art et d'industrie André Diligent de Roubaix is one of Roubaix’s most iconic and historical landmarks. It is a cultural venue that showcases the rich history of the city and symbolises its industrial roots through an extensive art collection and the preserved swimming pool that dates back to the late 1920s.
Last Friday, the museum took on a new dimension as Van Rysel-Roubaix, a third-tier Continental team from the region, announced their 2025 roster and unveiled a new pink kit and Van Rysel bike.
As far as team launches go, this was on par with a WorldTour level squad but with a retained nod to the fact that the underdog French team is still growing, working towards greater goals, and, most importantly, striving to be a cycling team that people from Roubaix can be proud of.
The lighting, the kit, and the decked-out Van Rysel RCR bike were all given a pink makeover but they weren’t the only element of the night to receive such treatment.
Nicolas Pierron, the CEO of Van Rysel and the man who stepped in to save the team from financial distress in 2023 had dyed his normally brown locks pink for the evening. As he stood on stage to announce the team’s plans for the coming season, it was clear that there was a genuine sense of pride in his words and his ambitions for the team.
A former soccer player, who had a promising amateur career before injury struck, Pierron turned to triathlon as part of his rehab. Almost twenty years later he has overseen a radical transformation of the Van Rysel brand, with the French company investing heavily in cycling, especially within Lille and Roubaix, where the team is based.
“It’s been a great project. 2023 was our first full season with the team, and we’ve tried to make it the best possible journey,” Pierron exclusively told us after his on-stage appearance.
“There are the two velodromes, our headquarters, the Van Rysel Academy, the WorldTour team, that we work with, and of course, our relationship with this team. I’m very happy and proud that we’re also collaborating with this team. They are third division, but together, we have a fighting spirit, and with this new kit and the roster, it’s just amazing. I’m very, very proud,” he said.
The team’s roots date back to the mid-2000s and they’ve been bouncing around the Continental ranks ever since. When the chance to sponsor the team arrived a few years ago, Pierron and Van Rysel jumped at the opportunity, first signing a short-term deal before last Friday’s announcement of a longer-term five-year extension. Such a situation is a rarity for a team of this size, but it’s a demonstration of the bike brand’s commitment to the sport at every level, as well as their desire to grow the current roster into something more successful, while at the same time respecting its roots.
“Roubaix… it’s like a brand because no matter where you are in the world, the US, Australia or the UK, you know the name. It’s like Everton or Liverpool because it’s an iconic team. We had a responsibility to find a solution in 2023 and to help the team carry on. In the past, this team had one-year deals, but in one year, it’s too difficult to build a huge project because in May you’re sitting down and not sure if you have a sponsor for the next season. It’s not a comfortable position to be in. In five years we can create a real project because we can create an entire project involving this team and our other partnerships,” Pierron added.
Pierron is also someone who likes to practice what he preaches. He helps test the Van Rysel equipment to ensure that the customers’ needs are in tune with what the brand is attempting to deliver. On his watch, all employees at the brand’s factory and HQ are encouraged to ride at lunchtime and are provided with the kit to do so.
“When I was young I wanted to be a professional footballer but it was too tough,” he recalled.
“I actually played for Chesire Lines in Liverpool at the same time that Mickaël Madar played at Everton. After that, I had an injury and decided to ride a road bike to help my injuries. Then I started to do triathlon, doing Ironman eight times and I’ve done Race Across France. I must practice with the products so that I can understand our customers and their needs. Everyone on my team rides,” he said.
Another factor that’s important for Pierron is attention to detail. He was a huge admirer of Dave Brailsford and Team Sky, and the British team’s mantra of marginal gains, where every advantage, no matter how small was utilised with efficient ruthlessness to propel the team towards success.
“With the bike, It’s the same frame as the WorldTour riders use at Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale but there are different transmissions and different wheels for Van Rysel-Roubaix. It’s the same frame, fork and cockpit. It’s amazing for this team to have this level and it’s also the shoes, glasses, and helmets. When I was younger I was very impressed with the marginal gains that Team Sky had. They had an excellent strategy and I want to create the same strategy with our team and technical partners. So when we design the helmets, we also design the glasses to try and find the best possible connection between these two products. We want to create a great place with our factory, headquarters, engineers and designers,” he added.
The riders themselves were just as upbeat about the season ahead. The roster has maintained the highly promising Rémi Capron for another season, whilst also bringing back 36-year-old veteran and former team rider Baptiste Planckaert from the WorldTour level, Intermarché-Wanty.
Team boss Daniel Verbrackel, who has been with the team on and off for several years, believes that the squad are moving in the right direction, and building at the right pace.
“The team had its best season so far in 2024 and that’s down to Van Rysel joining us in 2023 thanks to Nicolas Pierron. That marked a new beginning for this team and we’ve grown really fast since then. The management and the riders all thought that we were going to close in 2023 but since the arrival of Van Rysel, it’s been a totally different team,” Verbrackel said.
“Long-term, our ambition and our dream is for the team to take part in Paris-Roubaix. Van Rysel is a partner up to 2029, but right now, we’re a Continental team, which means for Roubaix to happen, we need to move up a division and then compete for a wild card invitation. That means growing the roster, but it would be amazing if Van Rysel Roubaix could be at the start of the Paris-Roubaix. That’s our goal,” he said.
Another aspiration is for the team to unearth talent from within Roubaix and Lille. The squad already has several riders from just outside those cities, with some based just over the border in Belgium, but having a Roubaix-born rider would provide a completely new dynamic for the squad in the future.
“It would be amazing to have one rider from Roubaix in our team. We’re trying to find him but for now, we don’t have it. We do have six riders who come from very close by and who grew up just to the north and two from Belgium. The region is important because of Roubaix,” Verbrackel added.
One of the riders who grew up close to Roubaix is Kenny Molly, a now three-year vet on the team, and whose father is a talent scout for Soudal Quick-Step.
Molly comes from just over the Belgian border but grew up ingrained in the cycling culture that plays such a pivotal role in both French and Belgian society.
“I grew up 40 minutes from here, so I know that this is a legendary team. Of course, the name Roubaix is one that everyone knows in cycling. It’s a very important place. For this region, it’s a really important team. I grew up in cycling and this is already my seventh year in the pros. As a kid, I watched Roubaix all the time, and I knew the team even back then, so it’s a pleasure to wear their colours. You can see the progression that we’ve made and it’s great to be part of it,” he said.
“When I first came to the team three years ago, I arrived at a December training camp, and they told me that the team could close within three months. I thought that my career could be over, but then Van Rysel arrived, and that made a big change. Last year we had the bikes, and this was a big progression. I’ve had good bikes before, but this is another level now. For a team like us, it would be nice to be at the start of Paris-Roubaix. I would like the team to develop to that, and I’d like to be part of that. We have a good calendar this year, lots of races in France, and we start in Spain. We’re a team going in the right direction,” Molly added.
Van Rysel-Roubaix are clearly a team on the up. The foundations are solid, and the aims impressive yet achievable, but what resonates most of all is that even though the team has a backer from the world stage of cycling, one with huge resources, it remains a team of the people. Just like the La Piscine - Musée d'art et d'industrie André Diligent de Roubaix itself, Van Rysel-Roubaix is creating its own piece of history that the region can be proud of.
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