The 2025 presentation of Fenix Deceuninck brought many Dutch to the Fenix Scenario on Via Quintino Sella in Milan. Part of the management, staff, and team roster, naturally. And consequently, the Dutch media. They questioned team manager Philip Roodhooft about a current issue concerning not the women's team, but the flagship male rider of the Alpecin-branded team: Mathieu Van der Poel. "I expect him to be in good form," Roodhooft told his North European colleagues, "but I won't venture further with predictions: if you say he'll struggle and it's not true, you look ridiculous, and if you say he'll do well, you risk creating only pressure. He has certainly worked well and is ready; we've drawn up a great program of ten races before the World Championship. It would be fantastic to see Wout Van Aert back at the top of his form to relive some epic moments and duels. Mathieu and Wout have given cyclocross sensational moments that have written the history of the discipline and increased public participation. However, I must say I was surprised by a strange underlying 'buzz' that formed around our communication, which some consider late, regarding VDP's calendar. There are several variables that can influence the calendar before it can be finalized; we simply think we've taken the right time to make it official."

Afterwards, we also had the opportunity to chat with Roodhooft, who moreover spoke to us in impeccable Italian. After reiterating some concepts expressed in the press conference regarding the change in mentality he wants to imprint, also thanks to the entry of Annemiek Van Vleuten into the staff (If you're not willing to risk losing, you can't win...), he answered a couple of our questions about cyclocross. In particular, we asked him about the gap between Italy and countries like Belgium and the Netherlands: "Perhaps from the outside, it seems 'easy' for us to effectively combine and carry forward both road and cross activities, but there's nothing easy about it. And we're happy about that: if it were easy, everyone could do it; instead, we're proud to succeed in something difficult. I don't believe that winning so much in cyclocross is necessarily a prerogative of Belgians and Dutch, true that in our parts it's almost a national sport, but other movements can do very well if they put the right ambition and commitment at all levels. Bringing the discussion to a single case, we're seeing how the Italian champion Sara Casasola is willing to do what needs to be done: she came to race with us at Claren Corendon (the cyclocross formation of brothers Philip and Christoph Roodhooft, ed.) and is showing an iron spirit and determination!"