Soudal-QuickStep boss Patrick Lefevere is reportedly trying to 'save' Soudal-QuickStep by keeping the team running under its current WorldTour licence following any partial takeover or merger with Jumbo-Visma.
The plans to merge the two teams together, with the new squad set to run under sponsorship by Soudal and Visma, emerged 10 days ago and clarity on the outcome of such a move has been in short supply since.
Latest reports indicate just six riders – including Remco Evenepoel – plus title sponsor Soudal, and possibly bike supplier Specialized, could join the Dutch squad.
Primož Roglič will leave and is expected to join Bora-Hansgrohe, while Jonas Vingegaard and Wout Van Aert would remain as team leaders. Evenepoel has so far stayed tight-lipped about his own future. He has been approached by the Jumbo-Visma management but has been linked to Ineos Grenadiers. However if Lefevere can keep the current team alive, then Evenepoel is under contract and would have to stay or buy himself out of the contract.
Around 50 riders are under contract for 2024 with the two teams, as well as many more staff members, sparking questions and concerns about their future. This is where Lefevere could become their savour.
A report by Het Laatste Nieuws on Wednesday indicated that Lefevere is seeking to save the riders and staff left behind by keeping a team running under the QuickStep WorldTour licence. However he need to secure the sponsorship, hire 27 riders and complete the plan before the UCI's mid-October deadline for team registrations.
Het Laatste Nieuws reports that the project – a "remnant team" in their words, which aims to keep running for "a few more years" – is a "work in progress", though numerous questions hang over the idea.
Excluding Evenepoel, a total of 23 riders – including double world champion Julian Alaphilippe, Classics stars Yves Lampaert and Kasper Asgreen, climbers Mikel Landa and Ilan Van Wilder, and sprinter Tim Merlier are all under contract with the team for 2024, as are numerous loyal staff members.
Sponsors including QuickStep, Renson, Latexco, and Safety Jogger could be left out of any takeover/merger with Jumbo-Visma and so perhaps fund the team. However the team would have to prove to the UCI that it has the funding and the sporting talent to desire a place in the WorldTour, via the UCI's sporting and financial criteria.
Riders and staff currently at the team have yet to be informed of Lefevere's plan, Het Laatste Nieuws says.
Soudal-QuickStep recently cancelled next week's team-building get-together amid the ongoing uncertainty and anger about the potential merger. Following his win at Tre Valli Varesine, Van Wilder spoke passionately about the future of the squad.
"This victory is for our staff and my teammates, to show we don't agree with all this shit, and we want to continue Soudal-QuickStep," he said after soloing to victory in Varese. "We are strong enough and I hope it will be like this."
Regardless, the clock is ticking on Lefevere's action plan to save the Belgian team.
Should any plan to save the team and the licence not come to fruition by October 19, then all riders and staff will be released from their contracts at what is a late stage of the 'transfer window' for 2024.
If the team doesn't continue next season, then the WorldTour is set to continue with just 17 teams after the UCI released a statement declaring that licences can be "re-evaluated at any time" and that "if the continuity of one of the teams could not be guaranteed for the 2024 season, the number of UCI WorldTeams would be 17 for the 2024 and 2025 seasons."
The statement effectively shut the door on ProTeams such as Uno-X or Israel-Premier Tech being awarded a WorldTour place. They would have to buy the Soudal- QuickStep team snd integrate its own current riders and staff into it to secure WorldTour for the next two seasons.
