Yves Lampaert will remain with Patrick Lefevere's Soudal-QuickStep until the end of 2025 after signing a three-year contract extension with the Belgian team. Lampaert joined the squad in 2015 and has been a mainstay of their Classics unit and a talented time trialist in that period.
Although Lampaert endured disappointment with a late crash at Paris-Roubaix in April, he went on to score the biggest victory of his career when he won the opening time trial of the Tour de France in Copenhagen.
“I'm just a farmer's son from Belgium and I've done this,” Lampaert said modestly after pulling on the yellow jersey.
The 31-year-old was always likely to stay put at Lefevere’s team – which will be rebranded as Soudal-QuickStep in 2023 – but his contract extension was only formally announced on Friday morning.
“I am really happy that I can stay for three more years with the team. I see the team as my family and I am always really proud when can be successful, so let’s see if we can add some more in the coming years,” Lampaert said.
“I would like to thank Patrick for the confidence that he has shown in me and I hope to repay that faith.”
A native of Izegem, Lampaert turned professional with Topsport Vlaanderen and his performances at that notable academy earned him a ride with QuickStep in 2015. His victories during his time at QuickStep include Dwars door Vlaanderen in 2017 and 2018, Brugge-De Panne in 2020 and a stage of the Vuelta a España in 2017.
Lampaert was Belgian road champion in 2018 and has twice landed the Belgian time trial title, while he has also placed on the podium at Paris-Roubaix and Omloop Het Nieuwsblad. At the end of a 2022 Classics campaign blighted by illness, Lampaert was in the mix for a podium finish in Roubaix only to crash into a spectator on the roadside.
“I am very happy that we could come to an agreement that will see Yves stay with the team,” Lefevere said.
“When we think of his last year, we think of what happened in Paris-Roubaix and being in yellow at the Tour de France, but the bigger picture is so much more than that. He has taken some big victories individually, but he also works tirelessly for others and he is a huge part of our team. We are delighted that we will have him for three more years.”
Lampaert will again be a key part of Soudal-QuickStep’s cobbled Classics squad next season alongside Kasper Asgreen. Although Zdenek Stybar has departed for BikeExchange-Jayco, Julian Alaphilippe confirmed to Cyclingnews that he will make the Tour of Flanders the centrepiece of his Spring in 2023.
Elsewhere, Lampaert will play a key role in the lead-out train for Fabio Jakobsen and new arrival Tim Merlier, while Soudal-QuickStep will also target further Grand Tour success with world champion Remco Evenepoel, who has yet to outline his race programme for 2023.
