"He won a lot. Now he's no longer here" - Quick-Step DS wants team to progress after departure of Remco Evenepoel

Soudal - Quick-Step is starting out their first season without Remco Evenepoel this decade and it's going to be a very different one. The team puts back its focus on the classics and prioritizes the sprints forward, and it will provide an opportunity for other riders to shine.

"Remco spent many years with us, he won a lot. Now he's no longer here. As I said, this gives more opportunities to other riders. It's up to us, collectively, with the riders, to work hard, progress, and show that we can still improve," team DS Davide Bramati shared with Cyclism'Actu. "When you work hard, the results can come".

It can't be said that the team's main figures did not have opportunities over the last few years however. Ilan van Wilder has often been given leadership roles in stage-races and one-day races alike; Mikel Landa has been given Grand Tour leadership; and even Valentin Paret-Peintre benefited from his leaders' absences to perform for himself, winning for example the Mont Ventoux stage at the Tour de France.

Meanwhile its sprinters Tim Merlier and Paul Magnier both led their own Grand Tour, and that is certain to happen again in 2026. The entry of riders like Jasper Stuyven and Dylan van Baarle do not jeopardize the current leaders' objectives or freedom; rather it provides the team with a chance to be competitive again in the major cobbled classics.

"Yes, it's clearly an objective. This year, the team has recruited many riders for the classics. We have confidence; it's a very good group, with experience," Bramati praises. Could this be the year the Belgian year gets back to the top of a cobbled monument?

These are riders who have already won classics. We know the level is very high, as you said, but a race is a race. It's decided at the finish line. And this year, we have very good riders to achieve great things".