Remco Evenepoel is making his return to racing at next week's Tour of Britain, with the six-day race marking his comeback after withdrawing from the Tour de France.
The Belgian will be taking on one of his final races for Soudal-QuickStep in the race from Woodbridge to Cardiff on September 2-7 before his move to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe next season.
He'll be joined on the Belgian team by Ilan Van Wilder, Ethan Hayter, Luke Lamperti, Casper Pedersen, and Martin Svrček as he prepares for late-season goals, including the time trial and road race at the Road World Championships in Rwanda (September 21-28).
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Evenepoel hasn't raced in over a month since withdrawing from the Tour de France on the road to Superbagnères on stage 14. He later revealed that he had been racing the Tour with a broken rib.
He returned to training on August 4, while a day later, his long-rumoured transfer to Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe was confirmed. Current Soudal-QuickStep directeur sportif Klaas Lodewyck will join him at the German team, and Mattia Cattaneo is also rumoured to be making the switch.
The Tour of Britain will mark Evenepoel's final stage race for Soudal-QuickStep, while his final outing in team colours is expected to come at Il Lombardia (October 11). In between, he's set to tackle the Rwanda Worlds and the UEC Road European Championships in Drôme-Ardèche, France (October 1-5).
"We'll see where Remco is at the moment, as he returns to racing, but for the general classification, we also have Ilan, who could do something there," Lodewyck said of the Soudal-QuickStep Tour of Britain lineup.
"Ethan and Luke are two other riders who are motivated and who could be in the mix for some nice results.
"Our main focus for the week is to take a stage victory. Then, depending on how things go, we'll see if we can also fight for the overall standings. It's a very strong field at the start, but we are motivated to leave our mark on the race."
