TotalEnergies leader to reinforce struggling Classics team of Soudal - Quick-Step

It seems that Soudal - Quick-Step has secured its third incoming transfer of 2025 after the Frenchman Valentin Paret-Peintre and the Dutchman Pascal Eenkhoorn. According to HLN, Dries Van Gestel is on his way to the Belgian WorldTour team.

The rider himself denies that he has already signed, but that is only officially allowed from August 1. Several sources close to the team confirm that Van Gestel has reached an agreement with CEO Patrick Lefevere on a two-year commitment.

The 29-year-old rider has nine years of experience in the professional peloton, racing for Sport Vlaanderen for a long time before making a move to his current team TotalEnergies. After joining the French team, Van Gestel established himself as one of the top riders for classics, capable of fighting for grand tour stages as well.

While Van Gestel has only two profeesional victories to his name (from 2017 and 2022), it's his consistency in all kinds of classics that attracted Lefevere's struggling Wolfpack. This year, the Belgian only rarely finished outside the top 20 in classics, with his best results being 3rd at Grand Prix de Denain and 13th at Paris-Roubaix.