There is a contract that binds Remco Evenepoel to Soudal-Quick Step until 2026. We have all heard the rumours that he would like to join Red Bull next year, as it was imminent the merger with the former Jumbo Visma and it was understood that Ineos Grenadiers had made room for him by letting go of a host of riders. But what will Remco do? His father is also his agent and has been incredibly quiet for some time., after some excessive comments last year which had created tension between the rider and team manager Patrick Lefevere.
Among the reasons for dissatisfaction revealed by Evenepoel, the most obvious was the one about the (presumed) fragility of the team having to/wanting to compete in the Tour. What we just saw actually says that Soudal-Quick Step did its part and that too Landa, indicated by Remco himself as an insufficient solution, was at his side until he also obtained the fifth final place. Cattaneo missed, which has not found the right conditions. And certainly Pedersen's exit after just four stages deprived the team of valid support on the flatBut the team did its part.
Sanremo, Flanders and Tour
Contracts, as we know, are sometimes written precisely to allow the most profitable way out for one of the two parties. So, in the same way that Uijtdebroeks has left Bora to settle at Visma in exchange for (a lot of) money, Evenepoel will also have to pay a sum, which is expected to be much more appropriateIt won't be the 150 million euros expected for Pogacar, but it would allow Lefevere to quickly console himself. It seems that an agreement has already been reached, but only to bring forward the end of the contract by one year: 2025 instead of 2026. To the point that Lefevere just hinted at what the Olympic champion's plans could be for next season.
«The idea is that Remco to discover the Milan-Sanremo in 2025 – he said the day after the time trial – and that one of the Paris-Nice or the Tirreno-Adriatico races. Then he will start preparing for the Tour of Flanders and from there he will return to Liège, which he missed this year due to a crash in the Basque Country. And then we'll focus again on the Tour de France».
Between Remco and Alaphilippe
These words sound like those of someone who holds the right cards and who, at the same time, risks seeing Alaphilippe leave (the savings on that contract would open up unexpected scenarios). They are well known the blows dealt to the French, who will play a big part of his future in the Paris road test on SaturdayHe would stay, but he understood that in the team where he grew up he would be second choice behind Remco. A bit like Ayuso behind Pogacar, with the difference that Ayuso is very young, while The Frenchman is 32 years old and would like to end his career on the front line.
«I was sure that Remco would win the time trial – Lefevere added – because he left nothing to chance. On Sunday evening, at the end of the Tour, we celebrated in Antibes, but at a certain point he disappeared and on Monday morning he was already on his bike.He has a perfect lifestyle. So I think we'll have to count on him again on Saturday in the road test. He said that the road course suits him better than the time trial.».
Managerial speeches
Then Lefevere returned as the disenchanted and perhaps even a little cynical manager. And in the same way that he justified and endorsed (who knows if he determined it) Alaphilippe's choice not to run the Tokyo Olympics to best honour the world champion's jersey, this is how he talks about Evenepoel's victory.
«What does his gold medal mean for Soudal Quick-Step? If you look closely it doesn't mean anythingOn the contrary,” he told Het Nieuwsblad, “it will cost us a prize much higher than the 50.000 euros that Remco will receive from the Federation. We will give him the same prize as if he had won a Monument. All this without being able to use his Olympic title for advertising purposes.But we gave him everything he needed to win: the equipment and the staff. This is the third time, after Pascal Richard in 1994 and Paolo Bettini in 2004, that one of my riders becomes Olympic champion. As an employer, it's a bit frustrating, but obviously I'm happy for Remco, who deserves it."
