Patrick Lefevere satisfied with Soudal - Quick-Step's season: "Our season has been more than successful"

Much is said of Soudal - Quick-Step in the past few weeks, but now recent days point towards a bigger chance of the team continuing in 2024. Patrick Lefevere looks back on what was a roller-coaster year, with good feedback however.

“Over the past week I have noticed that no one within Soudal Quick-Step is showing off. What Ilan van Wilder achieved in the Tre Valli Varesine was nothing short of impressive. Few drivers can pull away from riders with that reputation," Lefevere said in his Het Nieuwsblad column. "The top five actually speaks for itself. Five: Tadej Pogacar. Four: Primoz Roglic. Three: Aleksandr Vlasov. Two: Richard Carapaz. One: Ilan van Wilder. That says everything about how highly we should rate that performance.”

Van Wilder is racing Il Lombardia today where he is a candidate for a top spot alongside Remco Evenepoel, who has had his Grand Tour stints both wrecked - for different reasons - and is now focusing on 2024 and his Tour de France debut. Whether that will be with the Belgian team or not remains to be seen in the coming weeks, as it is unsure what will be of Quick-Step.

Lefevere reflects on a few certain departures, such as that of Andrea Bagioli. “I enjoyed his victory in the Gran Piemonte. Andrea leaves our team for Lidl-Trek and that is a phenomenon that I have noticed before: riders who leave are often freed from all the pressure they put on themselves," he says. "Andrea has won three races in the last three months. He is undoubtedly a good rider and at the age of twenty-four he is still a great talent, but I can say that he joined our team with quite a few credentials. Especially with a high salary that he has not always justified," the team manager shoots however.

Despite the complicated spring classics and lack of a GC result at the Grand Tours with Evenepoel, Lefevere ends up satisfied with the outlook on the yet-to-finish 2023: “I would like to conclude with a few statistics: fifty-eight victories, including a world title and a monument."

"Stage victories in the three Grand Tours. We are in third place in the WorldTour rankings after UAE Emirates and Jumbo-Visma, with a budget that will not allow you to reach a podium in the World Tour. Our season has been more than successful and Lombardy still has to start.”