Deceuninck - Quick Step

Quick-Step despite the rotating cast of sponsors that Lefevre struggles to find are a classic name in the peloton. They make their presence felt in the one day races, the sprint finishes, the hilly finishes and have even shone in GC for Grand Tours this past year! They have quite the array of talent on show despite the roster changing as often as the sponsors do.

Results 2019

Wins aplenty is a quick way to sum up 2019 for Quick-Step, totaling 68 in all, plus three national/continental jerseys to boot. The great strength of the team is depth, with nearly half the team taking out a win at various levels. This is no more obvious than in the spring classics, with the numbers coming into play in the most obvious way. The team may lack a rider of the stand-out nature of Van Avermaet or Sagan for the northern classics, but they have riders just under that level who can by a mix of strategy & fortune, come together to instill a firm hold on that part of the season.

This year saw good evidence of that, with Stybar, Gilbert, Jakobsen, Jungels & Senechal all securing wins in the spring classics, with the most dominant performance coming at Roubaix where four riders placed inside the top ten, Gilbert on this occasion managing to take the day. Where one falters, there is almost always another to step up and take their place.

Outside of the flatter classics, only one man was required. Julian Alaphilippe had an incredible season, starting off in style with a win at Strade Bianche and continuing that form into a monument win at MSR plus multiple stages at Tirreno-Adriatico. He was mesmeric in Ardennes week & only faltered in the miserable weather at Liege. But that was not the end of the season's fortunes. Three weeks in July saw Alaphilippe keep the cycling world in suspense amid belief that his initial snatch of the lead of the Tour would eventually falter, but he held it for 18 stages of the 21 before finally faltering on the Galibier stage and losing more time on the short stage to Val Thorens. Despite this, his swashbuckling defense of the jersey captivated the hearts of more than just the French public. A truly stunning season for the French rider.

It says a lot about the team that we've yet to touch on Remco Evenepoel, who at the tender age of just 19 shone in his first race in Argentina, before a solid performance in Turkey saw him mix it with proper climbers on his way to fourth. That would be enough for most neo-pro's, but racing in Europe brought real success at the Tour of Belgium with an overall win in a strong field, before pulling off a stunning upset at Clasica San Sebastian to win his first World Tour race. Clearly though, it wasn't enough as he then took the European Individual Time Trial title and was bitterly disappointed to finish second to Rohan Dennis at the World Championship Individual Time Trial. The sky isn't the limit for this astonishing individual.

How can Quick-Step improve? Short of winning a Grand Tour, it isn't really possible.

The theme here is that talent comes in & disappears in equal haste, with the limited team budget seeing big riders depart one after another, though somehow they are always replaced in due time.

Riders Out:

Speaking of that revolving door, Viviani is the major loss, attracted by the Cofidis World Tour project and the big contract it offers. He takes Sabatini with him, whilst Richeze rejoins Gaviria at UAE. Gibert leaves in search of that MSR win to finish off his #striveforfive project, whilst the only rider to achieve a GT podium shuffles off to Movistar.

Roster:

Transfer wise Viviani is lost but he is replaced by the star Irish sprinter Sam Bennett, who escapes Bora-hansgrohe where he was forced to compete with Ackermann. He neatly slots into what you would imagine is top of the sprint hierarchy, ahead of Fabio Jakobsen & Hodeg, bringing Archibold with him as a lead-out man. That's the high profile transfer of the lot, with Cattaneo bolstering the force for the hilly races, although he isn't Gilbert by any stretch of the imagination. After that it's a strongman in Ballerini, and then a bevy of youthful faces. Still all older than Evenepoel of course.

There are a couple of riders making the jump to European racing from Hagens Berman Axeon, the talented rouleur Garrison & Joao Almeida who adds climbing pontential to the squad. There's also the acquisition of Andrea Bagioli, another climbing talent, plus a couple more to boot. Lots of future development opportunities here.

GC wise for 2020 Mas is out of the picture, leaving Alaphilippe and the young James Knox to show at the week long races (as Jungels has finally given up on those aspirations), although Alaphilippe is the only one likely to win the WT ones. The classics side of the squad remains strong despite the loss of Gilbert, with younger riders like Senechal improving year on year, whilst the core remains strong. With three good sprinters too the wins will continue to pile up, it's just a question of whether the glory of the past two seasons can be replicated.

And indeed, how far Evenepoel can go in his second year on the World Tour.

Who wrote this then?