Updated January 12, 2026 08:43AM
Remco Evenepoel’s departure marks a dramatic turning point for Soudal Quick-Step, as the team embarks on a significant makeover for the 2026 season.
While Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe are generating buzz as the biggest shifts in the peloton, it’s the Belgian “Wolfpack” undergoing the most complete revival.
The team is pivoting away from pursuing yellow jersey ambitions with Evenepoel, instead refocusing on the aggressive, all-out racing that defined its past successes.
The arrival of classics specialists Dylan van Baarle and Jasper Stuyven positions the team to once again challenge for dominance in one-day races.
“We are starting a fourth chapter of the team,” CEO Jurgen Foré told Sporza. Foré outlined the team’s history, beginning with its Mapei roots and the 2012 acquisition by Czech billionaire Zdenek Bakala, followed by the emergence of an 18-year-old phenom in 2019.
“Then there was the beautiful period with Remco Evenepoel,” Foré said. “And now we are going to look for other goals. We do that with more freedom and with guys we believe in.”
Could this be Quick-Step version 4.0? Perhaps.
What’s certain is that the team’s new green-inspired jersey won’t be centered around a single grand tour contender like Evenepoel.
‘We have a team again’
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The “Wolfpack” is back in its purest form, ready to attack with relentless energy in the classics and pursue victories throughout the season.
Can Quick-Step recapture the glory days of its cobblestone dominance during the Tom Boonen era and beyond? The answer will become clear in the coming weeks.
However, the atmosphere at the team’s winter training camp along Spain’s Costa Blanca suggests a renewed sense of purpose.
“On the team camp I felt it — we have a team again,” Wilfried Peeters told Het Nieuwsblad. “I don’t want to detract from Remco, because he’s one of the best riders we’ve ever had. But a GC team is different and more individual.”
Evenepoel’s high-profile move to Red Bull, after seven years of dominating the team’s focus, isn’t viewed as a setback, but as an opportunity to reshape the squad and return to its aggressive, victory-oriented approach.
The team’s strategic shift is reflected in its recruitment choices for 2026.
Despite receiving a “Remco dividend” worth several million euros from Evenepoel’s transfer to Red Bull, the team didn’t invest in finding a direct replacement.
Instead, the team doubled down on its strengths as classics specialists and stage hunters.
The key signings of Stuyven and Van Baarle, both proven monument winners, signal a clear intent to challenge for success in one-day races.
Stuyven: ‘I still have my worth’
The arrival of these two monument winners is a strong statement of intent.
Both are proven performers—Stuyven won Milan-San Remo in 2021, and Van Baarle claimed victory at Paris-Roubaix in 2022—and are eager for a fresh start with the team known as the “New York Yankees of cobblestone racing.”
Van Baarle and Stuyven embody the team’s ethos.
“I think we were both ready for a breath of fresh air. We are going to find each other at the right time as teammates,” Van Baarle told Sporza. “That can be very beautiful.”
Stuyven is determined to prove his value after Lidl-Trek suggested he might explore other options for 2026 with the arrival of Juan Ayuso and the continued presence of Mads Pedersen and Jonathan Milan.
“It wasn’t that I was tired of Lidl-Trek. But when negotiations with Soudal-Quick Step started, I felt it was time for a new team,” Stuyven told Sporza, explaining that Lidl-Trek indicated he wouldn’t be a central figure in their classics program.
“Of course, I didn’t like to hear that, but the team had also understood that there might have been many other teams that still saw me in that role of leader,” Stuyven said. “That made the choice to leave easier, because I think I definitely still have my worth in the spring classics.”
Power in numbers
Stuyven, with his powerful build, embodies the classic Belgian classics rider archetype.
With victories at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne, along with San Remo, Stuyven has competed in 29 monuments, achieving two top-5 finishes in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
Alongside rising star Paul Magnier and veteran Yves Lampaert, the team boasts significant firepower in the cobbled classics.
“That is the idea, but everyone is also realistic enough. Tadej Pogačar and Mathieu van der Poel are so strong that they quickly force a man-to-man situation,” Stuyven said.
“But it does give more confidence and motivation to know that you can go to the classics with a strong team.”
Classics legends Niki Terpstra, Tim Declercq, and Sep Vanmarcke have also joined the team in supporting roles, bringing a wealth of experience and tactical insight.
Van Baarle: Finding his space
Van Baarle is fully committed to targeting the season’s prestigious cobblestone monuments.
“Flanders and Roubaix will be my main goals, and I hope to get back to my best level for these two monuments,” Van Baarle said. “I love them, they hold a special place in my heart and I would love to be in the mix for a good result or contribute to the team’s success.”
Van Baarle revealed that Soudal Quick-Step’s more flexible approach appealed to him, contrasting with the regimented training program at Visma-Lease a Bike.
He explained to Sporza that the Visma program didn’t align with his preferred, personalized training regimen.
“The most decisive thing was my conversation with (team boss) Jurgen Foré. He thought it was okay that I was allowed to go my own way in terms of training and approach for the classics,” Van Baarle told Sporza.
“At Soudal-Quick Step I have a little more of that freedom to discover whether my extreme training approach still works,” he said. “I had some choice [at Visma], but I would have liked to have done something different in preparation for a classic.
“I know I may have used some extreme forms of training in the past. But that has always worked,” he said. “At Quick-Step, I have a little more of that freedom to discover whether that still works.”
Beating Van der Poel, Pogačar
The team won’t be contending for overall victory in grand tours—with the possible exception of veteran Mikel Landa.
The team’s primary goal is to win its first monument since Evenepoel’s back-to-back victories at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2022-23 and Kasper Asgreen’s triumph at Flanders in 2021.
That will require overcoming the formidable duo of Van der Poel and Pogačar.
“When I won Paris-Roubaix, Mathieu also raced. I then took full advantage of the fact that he had a lesser day or I had a mega good day,” Van Baarle said.
“And that’s what we have to hope now; that we have a mega good day and they have a slightly less day.”
The team’s strength lies in its ability to field multiple riders deep into the finales of the northern monuments, a tactic Stuyven believes can help them challenge cycling’s top contenders.
“This way you don’t have to react to everything yourself and you can create a situation in which you don’t have to ride in a chasing group,” Stuyven told Sporza.
“But I will still be at the start of a race with the idea that I will try to win that race. You can also get a lot of satisfaction from driving finals and fighting for a victory or podium spot in the classics.”
