Soudal-QuickStep have come together for the Belgian team's pre-season training camp in Calpe, Spain, though the injured Remco Evenepoel is a significant notable absence from the 10-day gathering.
29 of the Belgian team's 30 riders have made the trip to Spain which runs to December 20. Mikel Landa, Yves Lampaert, and Tim Merlier will be joined in Calpe by new signings including Max Schachmann, Valentin Paret-Peintre, and Britain's Ethan Hayter.
Evenepoel, however, has remained back in Belgium as he begins rehab from surgery following last week's training crash which left him with fractures to a rib, hand, and shoulder blade as well as lung contusions and a dislocated collarbone.
Soudal-QuickStep directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck told Sporza that Evenepoel was doing "as well as possible under the given circumstances."
"It's not easy, of course, especially now that all the riders are leaving for a training camp. Normally that's a nice opportunity to get to know the new guys and train together. But let's say that it's going as well as possible under the circumstances. Every now and then he has a bad thought, which is understandable."
Lodewyck said he's in contact with the double Olympic champion "several times a day", noting that it's important to give Evenepoel "as best as possible" as he recovers from the laundry list of injuries.
"Sometimes you wonder: how many setbacks can you keep on dealing with? Remco also talked about yet another setback, because something like that is not endless," Lodewyck revealed.
"But OK, he has to stop thinking about racing for a while and see this period as an extra long winter. No matter how difficult that will be for him."
He noted that the team would have a better estimate on when Evenepoel might be able to return to racing next season "in mid-January", with his season possibly delayed by a month and a half as a result.
"There is a good chance that we will have to skip a month and a half and postpone his season start accordingly. Only then can we see what his first race could be and look forward to what is still possible towards the Walloon classics," he said.
"We had put together a nice programme that he was completely happy with. Now it will be a matter of puzzling again. Everything will depend on his rehabilitation. So, we cannot and may not look too far ahead yet, we will have a better view by mid-January.
"He now has the space to think about his big goals and what we will have to do to achieve them. As a team we can now nicely lay out the puzzle for him."
In the meantime, 2025 planning can go ahead with the other big names on the team who don't have injuries delaying their season starts.
Tim Merlier, who delivered 16 wins last season – including three Giro d'Italia stage wins – could be in line for a Tour de France start.
"Last season was phenomenal for him. It can only benefit the team if he can continue this," Lodewyck said.
"And the Tour? It's up to us as a team to see how well we can combine his goals with those of Remco. That's something we're already working on."
