"Deep down I love Paris-Roubaix the most": Jasper Stuyven reveals his biggest dream

Soudal - Quick-Step will be a largely unrecognizable team in 2026. Without Remco Evenepoel, a lot of the focus immediately shifts back to the Classics where the Belgian team will rely heavily on its new star recruit Jasper Stuyven to immediately deliver performances which will revive the good old Wolfpack spirit. But it's a large change of environment for the 33-year-old and we're yet to see how his transition from Lidl-Trek will pan out.

In any case, the former Milano-Sanremo winner seems excited about his new team after having spent his entire previous career in the same organization: "I was with one team for twelve years, so it's really nice to have everything new again," says the Belgian in an interview on the Wolfpack Howls podcast.

Stuyven adds that being able to finally race for a largely Belgian team could be the final piece he missed at the multi-cultural Lidl-Trek. "That's really nice, not that it wasn't good with an American team, but I always really enjoyed training with the national team."

Stuyven's 2026 season begins with a warm-up race Volta ao Algarve before heading back to Belgium for Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne at the end of next week. Paris-Nice will serve as a transition between the "Opening Weekend" races and the block of one-day racing starting with Milano-Sanremo.

As a winner of Milano-Sanremo, a Vuelta stage, or both the Opening Weekend races, Stuyven already managed to tick off many boxes in his career, yet with the same breath he adds that there's plenty more races he'd love to win, for example the cobbles Monuments - Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix - where he finished top-5 multiple times in the past.

"I've achieved some great dreams, but I haven't achieved a lot yet. That's why I'm still riding and I still have the same passion for the sport," says Stuyven eagerly.

For him, the Omloop win in 2020 is one of the two finest victories of his career. "And that's not just because they're also the biggest victories," says the Belgian. "I had a very mediocre year in 2019, and my victory in the 2020 Omloop was my chance to show I was still going strong," he explains, even though that season ended abruptly due to the global lockdown.

Furthermore, the Belgian is, of course, still enjoying his unexpected victory in Milano-Sanremo. "Everyone was focused on Van Aert (Wout, ed.), Van Der Poel (Mathieu, ed.), and Alaphilippe (Julian, ed.), but no one was paying attention to me," the monument winner still says proudly.

Surprisingly, the Belgian's dream race to add to his palmares isn't the Belgian Monument though: "I love Flanders and E3, but deep down, I really love Paris-Roubaix the most."