Soudal Quick-Step's Classics reboot still waiting for launch

Soudal Quick-Step went back to the future for the 2026 season. The departure of Remco Evenepoel prompted a renewed focus on the cobbled Classics and an overhaul of both the roster and the management staff. Jasper Stuyven and Dylan van Baarle were signed to complement emerging talent Paul Magnier, while Niki Terpstra returned to the fold as a directeur sportif. 

Terpstra won Paris-Roubaix and the Tour of Flanders during his tenure as a rider at QuickStep, and he arguably personified the team’s approach better than anyone. He was, manager Patrick Lefevere once said, both a team player and an individualist, a rider who walked the fine line between knowing precisely when to sacrifice himself for the greater good and when to seize an opportunity for himself.

Eight years have passed since Terpstra was on board with Quick-Step for a Classics campaign, and the lie of the land has changed considerably. In 2018, he was part of a team that dominated on the cobbles, winning the Tour of Flanders, E3 Harelbeke, Dwars door Vlaanderen and Scheldeprijs. In 2026, Soudal Quick-Step are trying to regain their status, but the terms of engagement are dictated by others.

“The spirit is still there, but also you need the quality of the riders that have the specialism in these races,” Terpstra told Domestique in Waregem on Tuesday. “But now we have those riders again, so the vibe in the team is really good. The Classics didn’t go as smooth as we hoped so far. We had Jasper Stuyven in the mix for some top 10 results, which was good, but we’re aiming for higher.”

Soudal Quick-Step have won just four races so far in 2026, and their best result on the cobbles has been new arrival Laurenz Rex's sixth place at Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne. Ill fortune has played a part in their subdued results. Rex is now out for the spring after crashing at Gent-Wevelgem, while Magnier has been blighted by mechanical problems every time he has raced on the cobbles this year. 

In an echo of his maddening Opening Weekend, Magnier’s Gent-Wevelgem challenge was hindered by an untimely puncture and a difficult bike change. Circumstances mean it’s been impossible to make a firm assessment of the Frenchman’s progress on the cobbles.

“Yeah, it’s difficult,” Terpstra said. “I mean, he had a perfect start in Algarve, but in the cobblestone Classics, he has only had material problems. Milan-Sanremo was just a big learning process, but that was always a difficult race for a young guy like him, and it was good to have that experience in the legs. We need to remember that he’s really young and he needs to learn a lot.”

The Classics campaign so far has handed out more lessons than Magnier would have liked, and his visible agitation after his puncture at Gent-Wevelgem was perhaps a marker of his inexperience. But at 21, time is firmly on his side.

“You can see he’s still a young rider, and maybe he doesn’t make the right decisions at the right moment, but it’s all part of the process for him,” Terpstra said. “The bad thing is that he doesn’t have any results. The good thing is he has learned a lot.

“He’s still progressing, and hopefully we can put him in a good place – maybe at Dwars door Vlaanderen.”

Magnier won't be lacking for experience around him on Wednesday. He lines up alongside two-time Dwars door Vlaanderen winner Yves Lampaert and 2022 winner Dylan van Baarle, while Terpstra won in Waregem in 2012 and again in 2014. Wout van Aert (Visma) and Mads Pedersen (Lidl-Trek) line up as favourites, but Soudal Quick-Step will see the race as a chance to take something tangible from a spring that so far has promised more than it has delivered.

“Dylan needs to go on the attack to win, while Paul can be in a small group and finish the job,” Terpstra said. “They are our captains for the race, but we have to be there with the whole team and if somebody else can take an opportunity, we won’t stop them.

“The group is there and they work for each other. In Bruges last week, they were up there in the final – but finishing it off is the next step, and that’s what needs to happen now.”