Sourdal-Quick Step will be without Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen and Giro d'Italia stage winners Jan Hilt and Fausto Masnada, team manager Patrick Lefebvre told Het Newsblad in his In his latest column, he revealed.

Lefebvre spoke with Asgreen at the start of the Vuelta a España and told him that “his performance is no longer worth his salary.”

Asgreen won a stage of the Tour de France in 2023 and turned around an unbeaten 2022 after winning the Tour de Flanders and the E3 Saxo Classic in 2021.

The Belgian coach moved Julien Alaphilippe to Tudor Pro Cycling after heavily criticizing the Frenchman for the same concerns.

“Asgreen was prepared to make concessions, but no agreement was reached. Julien and Kasper are the riders we are parting ways with.”

Sudar Quick Step relaunched as a Grand Tour team with Remco Evenpoel, who finished third in the Tour de France and won the best young rider award.

However, the transformation has come at the expense of the classic team, which is losing its main riders, Asgreen and Alaphilippe.

Lefebvre said that new signings Pascal Enckhorn (Lotto Dostony), Dries van Gestel (Total Energies) and Ethan Hayter (Ineos) have strengthened the Classic team.

“To be clear, neither Jürgen (COO Jürgen Foret) nor I think they can beat Wout van Aert or Mathieu van der Pol at the Tour de Flanders, but they certainly have more midfielders.

Regarding Masnada's departure, he said he “deserved it.” Not only was he unable to perform due to injury, but he criticized him for being too “stubborn.”

“In Lombardia 2021, he was really good, but he ignored Davide Bramati's instructions and ran as fast as he could with Tadei Pogacar.”

Lefebvre also bids farewell to Hilt on his way to Israel Premiere Tech.

“Jan Hilt is also leaving the team. Of course, he has the right to move to Israel Premier Tec, which finished eighth in the Giro, but his explanation was odd: “I want to stay. I want to stay, but my agent sees it differently,'' he said. Well, I thought it was the player who decides his future,” Lefebvre wrote.

Lefebvre added that he expects Gianni Moscon to renew his contract and be the final rider on the 2025 roster.

He regrets missing out on signing Mick and Tim van Dijk, who instead signed with Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, saying, “When we approached that type of rider in the past, it was almost an automatic yes. Now, after much discussion, they have signed Red Bull - Bora-Hansgrohe. I don't blame them.

“The market is very competitive. Don't get me wrong, it was never easy to attract the best riders, but in recent years, Israel, Decathlon, Tudor, Red Bull, Lidl ...... and other “new” funds have entered the racing world. Teams that used to have a specific 'direction' - roughly speaking, classics or stage races - now have the budgetary wherewithal to focus on these two.”