Inside Soudal–Quick-Step, it’s not like how it used to be. Of course, some things never change – Patrick Lefevere is still a puppet master at the helm (albeit from a distance since he stepped down as CEO at the end of 2024), the big logo of flooring company Quick-Step is still slapped in the centre of the jersey and the squad still has a Belgian heart at its core – but in many ways, the team is unrecognisable. Gone are the days when focus was on sprint lead-out trains and the early season cobbled Classics and in its place is a clear strategy to ride for the general classification at Grand Tours. The shift has been kickstarted by one key arrival: Remco Evenepoel. Since the prodigal talent joined in 2019 and immediately showed the potential he had as a future Tour de France winner, Quick-Step have been forced into turning into a team that can, one day, help him get in yellow.
One rider who has seen this slow but sure transformation over the past five years is British rider James Knox. The 29-year-old is heading into his seventh season in the Soudal–Quick-Step colours and has become a part of the furniture – a key helper for the team’s GC hopefuls and a reliable domestique at important moments. He puts much of Soudal–Quick-Step’s recent transformation down to team boss Lefevere’s understanding of the cycling transfer market, securing useful riders despite the team having a reportedly smaller budget than other WorldTour outfits.
“Most of the credit has to go down to Lefevere for recruitment and looking at what he could get on the market. He's done his best to build a team to support Remco as much as possible. I think you have to acknowledge that, in comparison to the big GC team’s budgets, he's not employed super-domestiques on similar budget allocation to teams like Ineos, Visma or UAE, but he's managed to put together as best he can over the last five or six years,” Knox explains.
The 29-year-old counts the new signings that Lefevere has made on his hands as he lists them: Jan Hirt, Mattia Cattaneo, Louis Vervaeke, Ilan Van Wilder, Valentin Paret-Peintre. “Ten years ago when he was trying to build the roster he was potentially looking for the best sprinters, lead-out guys, future Classics guys, but he’s managed to tweak his focus a little bit and build a stronger team with the budget he has. He’s good at spotting things – if he had another 10 million that would be fantastic but he’s done well within the realms of what’s possible.”
Knox has worked closely with Evenepoel in recent seasons, notably supporting him in the 2023 Vuelta a España. It was the Belgian rider’s chance to defend his title from the year before, and everything was going to plan until stage 13, when Evenepoel suffered a spectacular blow-up on the Col du Tourmalet, losing almost half an hour to Sepp Kuss, the eventual race winner from Visma-Lease a Bike. Despite the setback, however, Evenepoel recovered to win three stages and the mountains classification that year – something that Knox argues is a testament to his teammate’s bolshy character.
“He's bullish. I think that's the right way to describe him. He's confident and he’s up for it whatever day it is. It doesn’t matter if it’s a wet, cold Wednesday in Stoke he’s going to go for it,” Knox smiles. “As a teammate, that inspires us because it doesn’t always pay off, does it? But that’s been the Quick-Step way to race, to get involved, take the bull by the horns and Remco feeds off that. It motivates us with his charisma, we know if we put it on the line for him he’s going to give it everything he’s got to try and win.”
The British rider adds that the Evenepoel is able to remain focused and motivated despite the intense media scrutiny he has faced in the Belgian press.
“Remco is under the limelight, especially in Belgium and has been one of the biggest stars in the world in a way which I can’t really comprehend. The media there can build you up and break you down pretty fast,” Knox says. “When things go wrong, they are really highlighted and talked about for months on end. When it went wrong in the Vuelta that year he was upset and disappointed and felt like he’d let us down, but the very next day he picked himself up, dusted himself off and won a stage. What a leader, what a champion.”
While Knox wasn’t part of the Tour de France team last year which supported Evenepoel to an eventual podium finish, he explains he was following the race with interest from home. The dominance of Tadej Pogačar, who won both the Giro d’Italia and the Tour last year, was one of the main talking points of the season, and Knox notes that all eyes will be on the Slovenian rider to see if he can repeat his exploits in 2025.
“It was groundbreaking what he did last year so I think the weight of the world is on him again to go out and do something even more crazy and ridiculous this year,” Knox muses. “But personally as a fan, I hope the gap is a little bit closer and we see big rivalries forming between the main GC guys. It would be good to see them neck and neck, as the sport remembers these big battles. You had the golden era of tennis with Nadal and Federer and I think if you have that in cycling there’s more people watching the sport and TV – everyone is better off for that. That’s what the dream scenario would be.”
During his seven years as a professional rider – all of which he has spent with Quick-Step – Knox adds that the racing style in the peloton has gradually changed alongside his team. With riders like Evenepoel coming into the WorldTour with a confident, aggressive style, the speed and difficulty of races has steadily increased. As the level goes up across the board, teams are being forced to look for incremental gains wherever they can.
“In Grand Tours, you feel day to day there's less easier days than there might have been before. This started a while ago but now there are entire Grand Tour stages on TV there’s a bit more pressure on riders not to just dawdle at the back as people at home can see if we’re just there messing around,” Knox says. “The more professional it is, the more pressure there is and the more willing everyone is to do everything it takes to try and get a result to perform as a team.”
Evenepoel is part of a new generation of cycling talent who are winning at a younger age than ever before. While Knox remembers his under-23 years as learning the ropes while part of Team Wiggins, riders who have come after him have headed straight into the WorldTour. Team managers like Lefevere are having to look at signing talent from the junior ranks, and Knox says this is contributing to the overall changing landscape of professional cycling.
“I started training like a cyclist from the age of 18. When I was a junior I didn’t ride my bike in winter because it was wet and dark and I wasn’t going to ride the turbo. When I was an under-23 I didn’t even really start training until January,” Knox reflects. “Now kids as young as 11 have coaches, they have six years of semi-professional training by the time they get to 18.
“Every person at home wants to see fresh, new talent every year. In football, people love to see a brand new 17-year-old scoring a wonder goal. It is the same in cycling. In terms of the childhood of these kids, though, they sacrifice a lot, not really knowing what's coming of it and can miss the normal things of being a kid. They have agents now and become a business very young, which is a bit sad. Cycling is becoming a lot more like football.”
And where does Knox himself fit into this complicated world of bike racing at the highest level? The Brit says that he’s grateful to be there, and is happy to take every chance he’s given to help Soudal–Quick-Step achieve what they want: Grand Tour victories.
“Every rider dreams of being the Remco’s and the Landa’s, but reality sets in above ambition and you have to realise that you don’t have what they have. I’ve been capable in the past on my very best days to perform with the best riders but it's sporadic, not every weekend like Remco can,” Knox says in a matter-of-fact tone.
“I love being a part of this team, I love being a professional cyclist. I’m always more than happy and willing to set aside my own ambition to maintain a place in the team.”
