MinnMan

He wasn't much of a factor in this year's classic season. Others are ascendant in that realm.

surak

With 5 years left in his contract on a team that he feels is his, I don't see it. Even the biggest Sagan fan isn't going to expect him to be a serious green-jersey contender still in 2027. It's all about what Sagan can deliver in 2022 and maybe 2023.

Edit to add: as long as they have Alaphilippe (through 2024), don't think they'll be hard pressed to put on a show in France in the summertime. And he can still help Remco in all but the longest climbs, which is fine since nobody except Ineos and J-V can expect to have super-domestiques strong enough anyway.

MinnMan

Yes, that's true. But with Sagan or his successor, it's hard to imagine Quick Step coming to the Tour wholly focused on the GC. Winning stages is their thing, pretty much.

diphthong

as previously disclosed, it's a consistently, short list. sure...mvdp. alaphilippe. wout...would you take pidcock instead of sagan at this point?


love to throw the "h" out there at every opportunity with it being silent and/or compliant during the vuelta, tdf and latino/hispanic/charlemagne heritage races...

diphthong

true. sagan's not a shoe-in to win any race these days but he's usually in the running in the classics (top 7-8), in the flat sprints (top ten) and in the
classics-styled/uphill sprints (top 3-4). those young punks occasionally make a mistake and a veteran racer with a committed team is more
than capable of punishing and pouncing.

surak

It's been their thing, now if Remco is the next Merckx then they may make winning grand tours their thing.

In the recent TdF and Giro editions, they unexpectedly held the leader's jersey for many days, defending it while sacrificing potential stage wins along the way, despite knowing that winning it in the end would be a longshot both times. With Remco there is, until proven otherwise, a significantly greater chance of being on top into Paris, so recent history suggests they would 100% back him should he be in good GC position.

diphthong

dqs is the quiet, 800 lb gorilla. and now with them cultivating gc riders such as almeida and potentially remco, they can run the table.
alaphilippe held the yellow jersey for a good stretch there. this commitment is an eternity in cycling...

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/dec...teams-sponsor/

agree that they can pretty much contest tt's, sprints, hilly stages, and queen stages. they've got all the horses for particular courses.
can they go for the yellow (or green) jersey at the tdf? absolutely. both? possibly. just go for stage wins vs a classification win?
definitely. seems like the sponsors would benefit more with individual stage wins vs, say, a green jersey win. think they won 5-6 stages
in the last vuelta. if they only targeted stage wins in the tdf, ny over/under is 5. they could hit 7-8.

slcbob

^ that is a very long term commitment, relatively speaking.

From that article, it's not clear if it is any MORE of a commitment from Quick Step or just LONGER. LeFevre probably has something else up his sleeve. Any guesses?

GrainBrain

The big new sponsorship has to be Specialized. No way Bennett is moving away if Morkov just signed an extension. Sagan would seem to be a good fit for Quickstep's classic focus. Maybe a new focus on some lesser known off tarmac racing to parallel interest in selling gravel bikes?

.... Omg just had a wild thought ....

Sagan to ride "Unbound Gravel" in 2022?

MinnMan

Yeah, maybe I'm not seeing the whole picture, but I don't get quick steps move with Evenpoel and Alameida. I don't think they can pivot to be highly competitive in the Tour against Ineos and J-V, which really have built teams to support a full throated GC campaign, and at the same time, to support a full lead out train for lots of sprint stage wins in the grand tours.. I'm not saying they can't win - Pogacar won with UAE, which doesn't field as strong a team as Ineos or JV. But a multi-pronged GC+sprint stage strategy puts QS at a disadvantage in the grand tours compared to truly GC focused teams.

surak

Well Lefevre gave Remco the same term that UAE gave Pogacar, and I think if Remco shows he's up near that tier then they will invest more in the climbing domestiques needed for GC contention. Even today's stage could be considered a great learning experience for Remco and Quick-Step, with plenty more opportunities down the road for the next 6 years. If it turns out he's really not cut out for the 3 week races (which it's far too early to declare), then he can go back to shredding the competition in the shorter stage races and hunt for stage victories in the long ones. Definitely not going to turn into a one-day racer for the likes of Strade Bianche though (ouch).

Edit: w.r.t. Almeida, I think a combination of unexpected circumstances caused him to gain prominence too early for Remco's and Quick-Step's GC developmental timeline. Had there not been thin competition at last year's Giro, coupled with Remco's crash, I think they could've/would've held onto Almeida to develop alongside Remco as a lieutenant/backup plan. That Giro created an illusion that Almeida was ready to stand on his own as a GC guy (similar to what happened with Alaphilippe), but Lefevre thinks otherwise and wants no part in paying the price Almeida's agent demands. So I wouldn't take his unwillingness to invest in Almeida as a strike against the possibility for them to push to have a better GC-focused team.

surak

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/05/lefe...ly-sign-sagan/

Lefevere admits interest in Sagan but wary about price tag to bring his whole entourage (brother, Oss, Bodnar, mechanic, soigneur, press officer(!)) and effects on having a team within a team.

CyclingTips also reports (not sure if this can be attributed to Lefevere) that the team needs help for Remco, but with Deucininck leaving they're in a pinch.

I wonder if it shows that winning classics and stages isn't close to the draw that winning a grand tour is from a funding perspective (Ineos, UAE, recently J-V), or is it the other way around where massive funding is a prerequisite to be in the game?

Flip Flop Rider

who gets the lead out?

slcbob

Sagan fined for "intimidation." That can't hurt his negotiation.

surak

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/05/saga...nck-quickstep/

Levefere squashing the dream and suggests Total-Direct Energie is willing to take Sagan's total entourage.

GrainBrain

Lol what - Total Direct? Really? I read that article as well, are they trying to get Vaughters to just panic spend? Total does have some decent results ...

Sagan is going to Quickstep, Cofefe levfrefre is just BSing.

surak

Could be like Nairoman going to Arkea-Samsic, I wouldn't write it off just because it's not currently a World Tour team.

slcbob

or like the pre-Sagan Bora.

aclinjury

DQS has to decide if they're a GC or classic team. They can't have both. If they want to build a GC team for Remco, they will need an overhaul.
BTW, I don't think Remco will be as good as Almeida. But Remco is Belgian so he has this card over Almeida.

slcbob

Even before the 28 man roster oozed up to 32, teams like TJV have figured out a way to go both ways. Successfully. Though it is a challenge that requires some inve$tment and thus some $upport.

DQS can't not be a classics team. It's in their DNA and their sponsors raison d'etre. But I wouldn't rule them out of being competitive for GC. Certainly not because a 21 year old in his first grand tour and first race after a 10 month recovery failed to deliver. Any reports of the death of LeFevre's GC ambitions are exaggerated.