Remco Evenepoel has said he will ‘normally’ stay at Soudal-QuickStep and respect his contract, but he made it clear that the Belgian team has to improve so he can try to win the 2024 Tour de France.
Evenepoel is under contract with Soudal-QuickStep until 2026, but reports that Ineos Grenadiers and other teams are trying to tempt to break his contract continue to circulate. Israel-Premier Tech, Bora-Hansgrohe are also said to be interested in signing Evenepoel if he can get out of his contract, with other teams also potentially interested.
Evenepoel described the reports as “small bullshit that is going around” before the Clásica San Sebastián but then his father Patrick, who also acts as his agent, told La Dernière Heure that he “could not confirm” that his son would remain with Soudal-QuickStep next season. Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere warned Evenepoel that “if you don't respect your contract, you get sued.”
Evenepoel accepted the validity of a contract in an interview with the Lanterne Rouge podcast but clearly wants Soudal-Quickstep to improve significantly for the 2024 Tour de France.
"Normally yes, I stay with Soudal-Quick Step,” Evenepoel said when asked about his future.
“I have a contract until ’26, so there’s this respectful thing. A contract is a contract, you can’t just say: ‘Ah, see you… bye, bye.’ It’s not how it goes. And the cycling world is not the football world where you can give 200 million and get the player or the rider.”
Lefevere has signed Mikel Landa as a key mountain domestique for 2024 but Evenepoel wants the team to become far more Grand Tour focused, even suggesting that Classics leader Kasper Asgreen and Julian Alaphilippe could be key super domestiques for him at the 2024 Tour de France.
“If we can just improve a lot of things – science, nutrition, just things around the Grand Tour team – I think we can quickly be on the same level as UAE and Jumbo,” Evenepoel suggested.
“We have a lot of knowledge in the team, especially us the riders. We know a lot about how the others work because there’s almost no secrets any more in the bunch.
“We had a soigneur [who joined Soudal-Quickstep] from Ineos and he gave us all the secrets, that’s how it goes. What’s in the feed bag, the bidons and how to make the rice cakes, which is a big difference compared to last year for us. All those small things can help us get to the top level.
“I believe that we really can… We just need to improve the level of the Grand Tour team. If there’s competition between the domestiques, the level will go up. You just want to go with the best guys.
“I believe in him [Alaphilippe] as a super domestique. He can have super days and off days, like all super domestique but if he’s on top level he can be in the top ten climbers in the world.”
