The three teams - Soudal Quick-Step, AG Insurance - Soudal Quick-Step women’s team, and the Soudal Quick-Step Devo team - have become increasingly aware of the pressures of modern life and the toll that this has taken on mental health. This is why they are launching Part of the Pack initiative, aimed at encouraging people to look after their mental health, open up conversations about personal mental wellbeing and look after each other’s mental health.
"Our family of teams earned the nickname of The Wolfpack because of its close-knit community, where we all support each other and work as a team and we want to bring this philosophy to the battle against mental health - it is a team effort," reads the official announcement.
"To do this we have teamed up with Tele-Onthaal, who will support the initiative. They are a Belgian based organisation, who offer support and help to those who are struggling with their mental health, as well as partnering similar organisations, based in countries across the world. They will support our team, staff, and fans, as we strive to remove the stigmas of talking about mental health, as well as offering tips on how to look after your own mental health and how to start conversations with those that you think may be suffering."
On the launch of the initiative, Soudal Quick-Step Mental Coach Michaël Verschaeve said: "In the team, we have always tried to be at the forefront of care for our riders and staff, and we have a very close-knit community that is known as The Wolfpack and the Part of the Pack initiative is an extension of that philosophy. This team was one of the first to use a sports psychologist to help our riders, but in recent years we have all become more aware of the importance of our mental health and it is a subject that now transcends sport and wider society. We are hoping that this initiative can help to normalise the conversation around our mental health."
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Ondrej ZhasilCycling Journalist
Ondřej Zhasil is a cycling journalist at CyclingUpToDate and has been part of the team since 2023. He is based in Ostrava, the third-largest city in the Czech Republic, and covers professional cycling across the main UCI competitions, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España. A key focus of his work is startlist analysis and pre-race coverage, where he examines team selections, rider line-ups, and tactical scenarios ahead of major events.
Alongside WorldTour coverage, Ondřej has developed specific expertise in junior cycling and in racing across East Asia, including competitions in China and Japan. He also maintains a broad working knowledge of other disciplines and levels, including cyclocross, while continuing to expand his understanding of mountain bike racing.
Ondřej holds a bachelor’s degree in Mathematics and Physics, which supports his analytical, data-driven approach to performance and race analysis. In his reporting, he regularly uses ProCyclingStats for results, statistics, and historical context. He places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles promptly when new, verified information becomes available.
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- Just looked again at the photo. Yeah I stand by that. If MS had fallen over in Brands direction I don’t even think she would have hit her. You must be a UCI race commissioner. I’ll be sure to check my sock height should I ever see you on a ride. Looks like everyone else on here sees what I see.mij08-11-2026
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- Blah Blah Blah !frieders308-11-2026
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- How can you use a photo post incident to judge the incident itself (which is not hard to find if you’re prepared to invest the same amount of time in searching as writing that comment? It’s harsh but technically right even though this or worse is not always sanctioned in every race. The two things that went against MS (who unfortunately for her would still have won without making her mistake) are that it was not a bunch sprint where there could have been an overlooked incident or mitigating circumstances explaining a deviation. Everything was focused on just those 2, Schreiber was riding beautifully balanced which made her sudden deviation look unnatural stroke as if it could have been in some part intentional whilst she was slowly drifting ever closer towards the barrier to a point that would have reached obstruction level. In her defence, it might have been the realisation she was heading towards that that made her react suddenly and caused the deviation involuntarily. In any case, congratulations to her for the ride of her life, in people’s minds she will be credited for it.Jumpyjohn07-11-2026
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santiagobenites07-11-2026 - Seriously why do they keep doing stupid things like this. Its one thing to relegate when the placings are minor, when the action is blatant. But when it is ambiguous, why dont they at least take advice from some higher up to avoid embarrassing themselves. This is similar to the Halland goal when his teammate was clearly offside and interfered in play and VAR gave them the goal. if you dont have evidence you cannot convict. Even for doping they have these rulesabstractengineer07-11-2026
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Our squads have teamed up with @teleonthaal to launch our 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐏𝐚𝐜𝐤 campaign, encouraging us all to talk about mental health. For more, see our website: soudal-quickstepteam.com/en/news/6284/w…
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