Van Baarle back in Belgium after training miles with Ferrand-Prévot and Gesink as Steels weighs in on revamped E3 route
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Follow us on GoogleSoudal Quick-Step are also entering an important spell in the season, starting with Friday’s E3 Saxo Classic. The Belgian team will line up with Jasper Stuyven and Dylan van Baarle as its leaders, and sports director Tom Steels has outlined the squad’s ambitions ahead of the race.
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Stuyven was forced to skip Opening Weekend through illness, but his performances in Paris-Nice — where he finished third and eighth on stages — and his seventh place at Milan-Sanremo showed he has fully recovered. The Belgian was runner-up in E3 two years ago and finished seventh in the race last season, which underlines why Soudal Quick-Step are looking to him as one of their main cards for Harelbeke.
Van Baarle, meanwhile, has not raced since his strong outings in the Volta ao Algarve and Opening Weekend, having opted for an altitude camp in Andorra instead. His partner Pauline Ferrand-Prévot was also there, while the Dutchman also logged plenty of kilometres with former teammates, including Koen Bouwman and Andorra resident Robert Gesink. IDL Pro Cycling had already reported in February that Van Baarle planned to return to racing at E3 after a second altitude block together with Ferrand-Prévot.
Continue reading below the photo!
Van Baarle and Bouwman in the snow at Andorra.
Steels on Soudal Quick-Step and the extra Oude Kwaremont
Steels also addressed the changed route, and in this case the original quote is available in English from Soudal Quick-Step’s team website. “The course has changed a bit and it will be interesting to see how things will look with the double ascent of the Kwaremont. Aside from that, there are also some intermediate parts where the race could kick off or restart. We have a strong team, with Jasper and Dylan as our leaders.”
He then ran through the rest of the line-up. Pepijn Reinderink comes in after a solid Milano-Sanremo, while Casper Pedersen had already shown last year how strong he can be in these races. Jonathan Vervenne and Warre Vangheluwe are expected to provide support, and Dries Van Gestel could prove an important road captain in the finale. Laurenz Rex and Paul Magnier are not part of the E3 selection, with both riders instead set to race In Flanders Fields on Sunday.
The extra Oude Kwaremont has made an already selective race even tougher. IDL Pro Cycling’s E3 preview notes that the added climb further tilts the race toward the strongest classics specialists, with Mathieu van der Poel again the standout favourite and riders such as Stuyven and Van Baarle among the experienced outsiders who could still shape the race if conditions and tactics fall their way.
Selection Soudal Quick-Step E3 Saxo Classic 2026
▸ Casper Pedersen
▸ Pepijn Reinderink
▸ Jasper Stuyven
▸ Dylan van Baarle
▸ Dries Van Gestel
▸ Warre Vangheluwe
▸ Jonathan Vervenne
Read also
Tom van der Salm (27) comes from the charming town of Zeilberg (Deurne) in the Netherlands and has been working as editor-in-chief & journalist at IDL Pro Cycling's parent site, In de Leiderstrui, since 2019. He travels with the peloton from the Tour de France to the AlUla Tour and from the World Championships in Rwanda or Canada to the Zilvermeercross in Mol. In his spare time he enjoys playing football, mountain biking, running, walking with his Labrador/Stabyhoun, investing, holidays, (specialty) beers, reading, cooking and watching sports & documentaries!
Contact: [email protected]
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Latest Comments
- Eight riders told to go for stages, and nobody gets one—hard to know what the plan was there. It’ll be interesting to see whether they pick a clear leader next time.bikebuffj10-11-2026
- Was Bernal’s 20th place really their best GC result? I thought he might have finished higher. Either way, it sounds like a rough Tour for the whole team.gearguru3310-11-2026
- Five days in breaks with no stage win is a painful stat. The team had chances, but they need to turn those opportunities into results.julien10-11-2026
- The Onley Vuelta example makes sense: a team with someone to rally around often looks much more cohesive. Hopefully INEOS can build on that rather than expecting a quick return to the Sky years.cadencekingm10-11-2026
- Thomas is right about the ambiguity. Eight riders all chasing stages can end up pulling in different directions, even if nobody’s deliberately working against anyone. They need a clearer plan once the GC leaders are out.robert6510-11-2026
- What a mess. The report makes it sound as though nobody properly explained the decision, and that’s hard to defend.jennifer1910-11-2026
- I’m still learning the rules: does moving left in a sprint automatically bring a penalty, or does it depend on whether the other rider is blocked? It sounds like Brand wasn’t impeded here.patriciaw10-11-2026
- A final decision still needs a proper explanation. If the federation’s complaint goes nowhere, I hope the officials at least review how they handled the riders afterwards.michael5410-11-2026
- Fair play to Lucinda for saying Marie had won fair and square. That kind of sportsmanship matters, especially after such a controversial decision.raceready710-11-2026
- Schreiber beat Brand on the road, so the jury needed to explain clearly why that slight deviation warranted relegation. Being cut off before she could give her account sounds appalling.lindae10-11-2026