Deceuninck-QuickStep (open in new tab) topped the UCI WorldTour team rankings for the second consecutive season with a total of 68 wins in 2019, including Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix and eight Grand Tour stages.

Julien Alaphilippe (open in new tab) was the team's standout performer, racking up 12 wins, including nine at the World Tour level. The Frenchman, who finished the season second in the individual standings behind Primoš Roglic (Jumbo-Visma), won Milan-San Remo, Flèche Wallonne, and Strade Bianche, and wore the yellow jersey for two weeks in the Tour de France (open in new tab), finishing fifth overall. He finished fifth overall in the Tour de France (open new tab).

In a ranking traditionally dominated by teams with Grand Tour success, Alaphilippe's surprising GC challenge in July helped Dečuninck-Quickstep maintain its summer lead in the rankings. With Philippe Gilbert winning Paris-Roubaix and Zdenek Stibal winning Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and the E3 Binkbank Classic, the Belgian team had already scored a large number of points in a remarkable campaign in the cobbled classics.

In the final week of the campaign, Dečuninck-Quickstep took five stage wins at the Classica San Sebastian with Remco Evenpoel, the EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg with Elia Viviani, and the Vuelta a España with and staved off the challenge of Beulah Hansgrohe. Enric Mas ended his season this week with an overall win at the Tour of Guangxi.

The Belgian team won 73 races in 2018, but this season included a lot of quality as well as quantity.

"We are very proud of this success because it was not easy," team manager Patrick Lefebvre said in a statement on Wednesday.

"During the season we had a big buffer against other teams, but that advantage ran out at the end of the season.

"We are not a grand tour oriented team and that is where we get the most points, so to win the ranking with so many points makes this win even more remarkable. Usually rankings don't lie, and the teams that keep winning from January to October are the best in the world."

Dečuninck-Quickstep finished the season 400 points ahead of Beulah Hansgrohe in the World Tour Team Rankings.

Sixteen Deceuninck-QuickStep riders tasted victory in 2019, beginning with Viviani's win on the first day of the Tour Down Under in January and ending with Mas' win in Guangxi.

"In the past, a lot of people would come here (Detunink-Quickstep) and say they couldn't win because of the other riders, but look at this year's results:" Lefebvre cited Gilbert's Paris-Roubaix win and Alaphilippe's two-man performance as the highlights of the season.

"It is of course not easy to name a few, but to name a few would be Milan-San Remo, Paris-Roubaix, and the 14 days of yellow of Le Tour. What was most impressive about the latter was that when the second yellow fell on Julien's shoulder in Saint-Etienne, everyone fought hard to keep the yellow as long as possible."

Deceuninck-QuickStep will move Gilbert to Lot Soudal, Viviani to Cofidis, and Mas to Movistar in 2020, but the team remains strong. Alaphilippe has agreed to a two-year contract extension, while 19-year-old Lemko Evenpoel will remain with the team until the end of the 2023 campaign. Irish sprinter Sam Bennett is hoping to move to Deceuninck Quickstep if he can resolve his contract issues with Beulah Hansgrohe.

Evenpoel was one of the standouts of the year in his first season out of junior. He won the European time trial title at Clasica San Sebastián and finished second in the time trial at the World Championships.

"The young players have exceeded expectations this year, contributing to a long list of wins and establishing themselves on the team.