The Deceuninck-QuickStep team will lose one title sponsor and keep another, with Quick-Step Floors extending its partnership for six more years while PVC extrusion company Deceuninck announced its departure at the end of this season.
The extension will keep Remco Evenepoel, who added five years to his contract with the team in April, wearing Quick-Step colours through 2026.
"We are very happy to continue our partnership with Quick-Step, who have been at our side for over two decades now," team manager and CEO Patrick Lefevere said.
"It's more than your usual sponsor extension; it's proof that solid relationships exist in cycling, based on trust, mutual respect and shared values. This long-term agreement will allow us to continue striving to improve the quality of our sports performances, to focus on the future and aim remain among the best in the sport."
The peak of the pre-transfer window negotiations usually comes at the Tour de France, and securing the team's future will certainly help Lefevere in recruiting fresh talent.
The team already has Yves Lampaert on board through 2022, lead-out man Michael Mørkøv, and neo-pro Mauri Vansevenant under contract through 2023, and World Champion Julian Alaphilippe and Danish champion Kasper Asgreen inked through 2024 but the bulk of the squad are at the end of their term.
Tour de France green jersey winner Sam Bennett has already decided to leave at the end of this season. Lefevere said the Irishman didn't want to leave but money was the issue. João Almeida, last year's fourth-place finisher in the Giro d'Italia, has been linked to a move to UAE Team Emirates.
"My leaders are being preyed on, yes. Everyone is trying to take my squad apart. It is up to me to keep them together. That's why I have to sign-up a number of men now. Not all 30, but the cornerstones for the coming years," Lefevere said last month.
Peter Sagan was linked to Lefevere's team with speculation he would leave Bora-Hansgrohe and join the Belgian squad, with bicycle-maker Specialized a key factor in the move.
It is unclear whether Deceuninck's exit will alter any of those plans.
