Dries Devenyns will join the staff at Soudal-QuickStep as a directeur sportif in 2024 after bringing an end to his career as a rider in October.
The veteran Belgian spent twelve of his seventeen professional seasons in QuickStep colours. He first joined the team in 2009 after beginning his career at Lotto, and he returned at the start of the 2017 campaign after a hiatus at Giant-Shimano and IAM Cycling.
Devenyns claimed victory at the Belgium Tour and the Tour de Wallonie during his time away from QuickStep, but on his return, he was deployed primarily as a road captain, becoming Julian Alaphilippe’s most trusted domestique.
In 2020 he won the Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race, which proved to be the final victory on his long career.
The 40-year-old was a natural candidate to make the transition to a management staff that already features a number of former QuickStep riders, including Wilfried Peeters, Tom Steels, Davide Bramati and Iljo Keisse.
“Dries has been an important part of the team in all these years, he is a person who carries that Wolfpack spirit and who we are proud to call a friend,” CEO Patrick Lefevere said.
“We are delighted that he will continue with us as a sports director this time, as we enter our 22nd season. It will be a new challenge for him, but he loves the sport, he is very passionate about it, and we are confident and excited as we begin this new adventure together.”
Soudal-QuickStep’s future was shrouded in doubt at the time of Devenyns’ last race at Gran Piemonte, but Jumbo-Visma’s attempted takeover of the squad collapsed shortly afterwards. Lefevere’s team remains in the WorldTour in 2024, with Remco Evenepoel and Alaphilippe the leading lights.
“This is a team I’ve always been part of, and to continue the story here… I couldn’t be happier,” Devenyns said.
“It wasn’t easy to stop my pro career, but I was fortunate to get this chance, which I grabbed with both hands, and I want to thank everyone here for their confidence.”
Devenyns’s new duties will see him toggle between Soudal-QuickStep’s WorldTour and development squads in 2024.
“I am excited to be part of both teams next season as I begin this new road and learn what it means to be a sports director,” Devenyns said.
“There are a lot of talented young riders there. I want to help them discover their potential and make significant progress, so that they eventually make it to the WorldTour squad.”
Lefevere revealed last week that Soudal-QuickStep will also shortly announce the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer, with the individual eventually set to take over from the Belgian as team manager.
“I always joke that 'with thirty riders per season I can get one transfer wrong'. Not in the role of successor,” Lefevere said. “But we have found someone who will start in a role as COO.”
