Max Schachmann will rejoin Soudal-QuickStep in 2025 after agreeing a two-year deal with Patrick Lefevere’s squad.
The German already spent the first two years of his career with the team before moving to Bora-Hansgrohe ahead of the 2019 campaign.
“I am happy to get the opportunity to come back home and ride again for Soudal-Quick Step, the team I started my career with,” Schachmann said on Friday.
“I know many of the people there, I have a lot of friends after all these years and I’m looking forward to returning and continuing to develop.”
Schachmann turned professional with QuickStep in 2017 having previously raced with their Klein Kostantia feeder team. He enjoyed a breakthrough the following year, delivering a stirring display at Flèche Wallonne and then winning a stage of the Giro d’Italia at Pratonevoso.
That success led to interest from Bora-Hansgrohe, where Schachmann has spent the past five seasons. His time at the team started strongly, with a hat-trick of stage wins at Itzulia Basque Country and a podium finish at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2019. He went on to claim the overall title at Paris-Nice in 2020 and 2021, but the seasons that followed were blighted by a succession of illnesses.
The 30-year-old caught the eye at this year’s Giro, where he went close to taking the maglia rosa on the opening day in Turin, and he will hope that he can continue the upward trajectory in 2025 on his return to QuickStep.
“I had two great years with the squad as I was beginning to learn the trade, and when presented with the opportunity to come back, I had a really good gut feeling that convinced me to make this move,” Schachmann said.
“I’m really excited about this and I can’t wait to start next season.”
Schachmann is the first signing Soudal-QuickStep have announced for 2025, though there could yet be further changes to their roster, with Julian Alaphilippe and Kasper Asgreen among the riders whose contracts expire at the end of this season.
“Max Schachmann is a very good and versatile rider who still has plenty to show in the sport, and we are confident he can do that as part of our squad,” Lefevere said. “We have a lot of beautiful memories from his first pro years in the squad.”
