Teams
Looking for: High GC place with Remco Evenepoel and stage wins
Tour riders
l Remco Evenepoel (Bel) 24
l Jan Hirt (Cze) 33
l Yves Lampaert (Bel) 33
l Mikel Landa (Esp) 34
l Gianni Moscon (Ita) 30
l Casper Pedersen (Den) 28
l Ilan Van Wilder (Bel) 24
l Louis Vervaeke (Bel) 30
Tour 2023 highlights
l Kasper Asgreen wins stage 18 to Bourg-en-Bresse
l Kasper Asgreen comes second on stage 19 to Poligny
l Fabio Jakobsen comes fourth on stage three to Bayonne
If this year's Tour de France doesn't work out drastically differently to last year's for Soudal-Quick Step, it will almost certainly be seen as an abject failure. Last year's race was saved by a win on stage 18 by Kasper Asgreen, and the Dane also managed a second place on the following day's stage – but beyond that, nothing.
If last year was mostly a Tour to forget for the team, the plan this year is for a Tour to remember. The responsibility for that lies chiefly with one rider, Remco Evenepoel. The precocious Belgian became the first rider from his nation to win a Grand Tour since 1978 when he won the Vuelta a España in 2022, aged just 22. A super-talent who sits among the world's top few time triallists, he's capable of matching the best in the mountains too.
This will be his first Tour de France, and he will start in Florence with his cards firmly on the table – the aim is GC victory. Should he succeed, he would be the first Belgian to win since Eddy Merckx in 1974 – 50 years ago. The big question mark over Evenepoel though, is how much form he can recover, after suffering a major crash earlier in the season.
Evenepoel will be ably su
