The imminent departure of Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step) from Soudal Quick-Step will very likely reduce the Belgian squad's options in the Grand Tour GC battles, but as current teammate Paul Magnier (Soudal Quick-Step) put it, the riders who remain with Soudal Quick-Step in 2026 should see the end of the Remco era as an opportunity to seize their own chances as well.
"It's not the end of the team," the 21-year-old French sprinter told Cyclingnews on Wednesday morning at the start of stage 3 of the Tour de Pologne. "There are other riders who might come through."
One of cycling's top up-and-coming sprinters, Magnier himself is something of a case in point. He is already shining strongly with four wins this season, three of them in one-day races, and this summer he took second in the opening stage of Pologne on Monday.
In terms of the bigger Soudal Quick-Step picture, in 2025 seven riders have taken a total of 28 victories so far, with Evenepoel, despite his very late start to the season because of training injuries, contributing four. There is also still a lot of 2025 to go, and as Magnier pointed out, Remco still has to complete the rest of the year in the squad, so the Belgian star may yet take more wins in a Soudal Quick-Step jersey.
However, when it was put to Magnier that Evenepoel's departure would represent the end of an era, whatever happened now, while he instantly agreed "that's true", he then pointed out that the team's imminent Remco-less future need not be wholly negative news, either.
"It's the team's decision [regarding future racing strategies] but it's going to open a new door in the squad," he argued.
"Remco and I didn't have the same program, so it doesn't change things for me so much, but a new door will open.
"I just hope things work out for us in the future with the team, and I also hope he has a good future with his new team, too."
Magnier also agreed that the events of the Tour de France following Evenepoel's abandonment through illness and injury, with Valentin Paret-Peintre (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Team) winning on the Ventoux in the third week, underlined Soudal's collective ability to bounce back in his absence.
"It's not the end of the team. Remco is somebody really talented, he really helped the team, but afterwards, it's certain there are other riders who might well come through like Tim Merlier (Soudal Quick-Step) and Valentin did in the Tour."
"So it could even end up being a good thing, maybe. We'll just have to see what happens in the future."
After his Ventoux victory, Paret-Peintre talked in detail about his team's 'winning culture' and even if perhaps the more pointed comment about Soudal's ability to bounce back that day came from teammate Ilan van Wilder (Soudal Quick-Step) - "After this win, our critics can go screw themselves" - Magnier agreed that the team's all-out attitude to go for victories was something that strongly appealed to him too.
"I really like the team's environment, that's why I re-signed for them for another two years," he said. "They're a great team, and a great family."
As for 2025, Magnier's next stop after Pologne will be the Renewi Tour, and the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France, where he took a hugely promising second place last year, "and then we'll see."
"Things are going fine, here too, in Pologne, with a second place on the first day, that wasn't so bad. Now we've got two difficult stages [2 and 3], but after that we'll have another crack of the whip on stage 4."
