"Lazkano is gone" - Patrick Lefevere confirms that Soudal - Quick-Step attempted to sign Spanish champion as a new classics leader

This 2024 season looks set to be Oier Lazkano's last with Movistar Team. His contract will expire at the end of the current season, and considering the great interest that the 24-year-old Spanish rider has aroused in several of the top teams in the WorldTour peloton, it will be very difficult to see him not join a new team.

In addition to BORA - hansgrohe's interest in signing Lazkano, which the German team wants the classics rider to join the Red Bull project they have in hand, Soudal Quick-Step has also expressed interest, as confirmed by Patrick Lefevere himself in words reported by Wielerflits: "His (Oier Lazkano's, ed.) representative has started to play", the Quick-Step sports director began by saying.

"I think Lazkano is a rider who would fit in very well with us and we really went for him. Johan Molly (scout) has good informal contact with a lot of French and Spanish riders, and through him we knew that Lazkano was also keen to join our team."

However, it seems that the contract offered to him by Soudal Quick-Step is below the one offered by BORA on the other hand. At least, that's what Lefevere implies: "His manager is Giuseppe Acquadro and he started to gamble. He bet on five different horses and inflated the price. Which, of course, is his right. Lazkano is gone, I think. We haven't heard anything more about it."

Everything points to the fact that, unless another giant like Visma - Lease a Bike, UAE Team Emirates or INEOS Grenadiers gets into the fight after his performances this spring... Oier Lazkano will end up signing at the end of the season for the BORA - hansgrohe of Primoz Roglic and company. In any case, nothing is confirmed, far from it. Many plot twists and turns can happen in the coming months around Lazkano's next big contract in the peloton. .