Patrick Lefevere: "I know Tim Merlier will be free at the end of the season…"

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team manager Patrick Lefevere has talked about some contractual ambitions of the team for the coming fall, adding to the debate he has been fueling in the last few weeks regarding the pressure the riders had for a contract with the team.

"Our results in the Flemish classics will affect our transfer window, even if we only have a few riders who are out of contract," Lefevere told Belgian news outlet La Dernière Heure. Mark Cavendish's contract is a constantly frictional discussion, however in the classics block too, the team have got Zdenek Stybar and Yves Lampaert at the end of their contract, and Lefevere points towards possible changes in the team.

In the same interview, Lefevere has hinted towards the possibility of the team bringing in a new top sprinter to their ranks. He has in the past expressed the desire to keep Fabio Jakobsen in the team - specially after the Dutchman's miraculous recovery - however Quick-Step has in the past, and present, had several top sprinters in their team.

He's mentioned a specific name in the interview: "I would also very much like to have a Belgian sprinter in the ranks again. I know Tim Merlier will be free at the end of the season…”

The Alpecin-Fenix has taken already this season three high-level wins, including two at World Tour level, after being one of the most successful sprinters last season with wins at the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France. As a rider with a palmarès in the Belgian semi-classics also with top end power, it would not be a surprise to see the team making a bid on Merlier later this year.