For a few years now, the rumours of Remco Evenepoel leaving Soudal – Quick-Step have always emerged around the transfer period but, for many years, situation remained unchanged. This year, the voices about the Belgian leaving to a team that’s been hunting for him for many years – Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe – are stronger than ever. The little info that comes out of both teams suggests not much, but we can at the very least analyze on-going transfers to get a grasp of the situation.Important is the transfer of Jasper Stuyven who embarks on a new adventure after 12 years with Lidl-Trek. The Belgian winner of Milano – Sanremo 2021 still burns with ambition to succeed in multiple types of races.
But is that a boost for Evenepoel’s mountain train? Not really.
The 33-year-old’s home is on the cobbles and as a projected leader for spring classics, his three-year contract surely takes a huge chunk of the Belgian team’s budget – money that could’ve been spent to add another strong climber to Evenepoel’s mountain train. If the team trusts the Olympic champion’s GC goals…
“He especially convinced me with his ambition,” the Soudal – Quick-Step CEO Jurgen Fore explained the decision to bring Stuyven to Wolfpack at Sporza. “Jasper takes good care of himself, was in top form this spring, is very versatile, and still has goals to tick off.”
Regarding the subject of Evenepoel’s possible move one year early (his contract runs through 2026), Fore did not break the information embargo.
“I thought I wouldn’t get any questions about Remco at this Tour? No, we didn’t want to or couldn’t make an announcement about that in the Tour. There hasn’t been much development yet. We’ll discuss this and announce things in due time. We are now focusing on the results at this Tour and on seven transfers that we have made.”
When can we expect news? “Sometime in August. But he (Remco Evenepoel, ed.) has a contract, right? There’s not much to say at the moment.”