The Quick Step cycling team has had one of its more mediocre seasons in the professional peloton with only eight victories to date. It sits currently in sixteenth place in the UCI’s WorldTour Rankings, with only a handful of races left this season to improve its position.
“Of course, if we have the opportunity we will take it at either Paris-Tours or at the Tour of Lombardy,” manager Patrick Lefevere told Cyclism'Actu, speaking of the remaining races left on the calendar.
“This season was not the greatest for Quick Step. Even though we have been present at the front of the Classics and the Vuelta with Sylvain Chavanel, admittedly the number of victory this year is not impressive. So we'll have to get back on track next season.”
The team will certainly be one of the more watched teams next year after having acquired some key riders during the transfer period. Lefevere has signed world time trial champion Tony Martin along with Levi Leipheimer and Peter and Martin Velits, to name just a few. Omega Pharma will also come on board as a sponsor to further bulk up the team.
“We lost our position as one of the top teams in the Classics the last two years so we needed reinforcements to get back to the top and the sooner the better. At the major tours it was hard to be able to target a podium so we also had to change this.
“We recruited to try to be present throughout the season in all races. We signed Tony Martin as he won all throughout the season and I hope he will do the same next year. When you see the excellent results of Leipheimer at the Tour of California and the [USA Pro Challenge], I hope he does well in week long races next year. As for Peter Velits, he could be in contention for a podium on a big tour since his top three at the Vuelta last year. I have not discussed all these points with the riders yet so we will see when we get together.”
There was speculation this week that Omega Pharma-Quick Step as they’ll be known next season would further be boosted by the addition of Mark Cavendish. However, Lefevere again dismissed it as just a rumour, even though he’d love to have the world champion on his team.
There was also uncertainty earlier this year on the future of Tom Boonen, but even though the former world champion has had a trying couple of seasons, Lefevere has put his faith in him and hopes the Belgian will be back to his best next year.
“For two years he has had bad luck. Last year his knee prevented him from being at the top and this year he crashed at the Tour and finished the season with a fractured scaphoid,” said Lefevere. “One can say that he has not been spared any bad luck but I trust him and I want him to have at last a full season after two seasons of struggling.”
With the impressive additions to the team, Quick Step should hold onto its WorldTour licence next year and end the season off much higher than the current lowly sixteenth position it maintains.