Soudal-Quick Step may be be focusing more on Grand Tours with Remco Evenepoel, but team manager Patrick Lefevere is convinced that Luke Lamperti can be a future sprinting star and Classics rider for his team.
“Watch out for the American guy. He’s fast and strong,” Lefevere said at the team’s training camp in Calpe this week.
“If my memory is good, Tom Boonen started as a sprinter and ended his career as a Classics rider. Johan Museeuw was a sprinter at Lotto and became a Classics rider on my team. I think Luke can do the same.”
The 21-year-old Lamperti is arguably the most talented new member of the 2024 Soudal Quick-Step team. Mikel Landa will provide vital support to Evenepoel in the mountains, but Lamperti appears set for the best career trajectory.
Following Fabio Jakobsen’s move to DSM-Firmenich-PostNL, Tim Merlier has become Soudal-Quick’s number one sprinter, but Lamperti’s impressive results with Trinity Racing automatically make him number two in the sprinting pecking order and will secure him selection to specific races and lead-out support from the team.
“I wouldn't say I have the pure, pure power of the big sprinters, so the Classics could be what suits me a bit more in the future. But we'll find out a lot more this year,” Lamperti said in Calpe.
Lamperti is keen to follow a similar career path to Boonen, Museeuw and especially Peter Sagan.
“When I first started really watching cycling, Sagan was the guy and I watched him actually go past my house. That kind of made me made me a fan,” Lamperti said.
“I liked the way he raced and everything he did in cycling and for the sport. For him to stop racing the year before I started as a pro is a shame, I always wanted to race with him, but I know him a bit.”
Lamperti and Sagan are both closely linked to Specialized. The California bike brand and its founder Mike Sinyard have always helped US riders as part of their WorldTour team sponsorship.
Lamperti lives two hours from Specialized’s California headquarters in Morgan Hill and has raced on Specialized bikes since he was a Junior, first at Lux Cycling and then Trinity Racing. He competed in motor cross as a boy and so has two-wheeled skills that have combined with physiological talents.
Lamperti does not have the braggadocio of Sagan, but he is quietly ambitious, like all sprinters naturally are. He could potentially make a quick breakthrough like Sagan did in 2010 and immediately win big.
“I think as a rider, you always put a bit of pressure on yourself, you always want to perform for yourself, but also for the team,” Lamperti suggested, measuring his words and ambition.
“I definitely would like to do something this year. When you start good, you always you gain a lot of confidence. If I could start in a good way and have some good rides, for sure it helps everything.”
A love for Belgium, a desire to develop fast
Lamperti will make his season debut in Soudal-Quick Step colours at the Challenge Mallorca in late January and then ride the Tour of Oman before heading to Belgium for Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
He has raced in Belgium since he was a junior, including some professional races in Flanders with Trinity Racing, but taking part in the Opening Weekend in Soudal-QuickStep colours will be a significant step in his journey of Classics discovery.
“Racing in Belgium has always been my favourite thing, so I do have a love for them,” he explained.
“As a junior I realised I wanted to race in Europe and felt I belong here. Now I have a chance to show that and see if I really do belong here. The guys on the team and the staff absolutely love racing in Flanders and I think that wears off on everyone. As I get to do them, hopefully I can love them too.”
Lamperti is making his WorldTour debut in 2024, but he is not a raw talent.
He turned 21 on December 31 and spent three years as an under-23 rider, racing at Continental level. In an era when so many riders are turning pro as teenagers, Lamperti opted to stay in the under-23 ranks a little longer.
“It’s quite a bit more than a lot of guys but I think for me three was right for me,” he said. “It gave me a lot of options and it meant I could choose my future a bit more and also keep that competence of winning.
“Being confident coming into the pros and having had success makes me feel I can now graduate versus feeling I had unfinished business in the under-23 category. Now it’s about putting everything together and really learning as fast as possible.”
Ready to race
Lamperti is 21 and fresh faced, but he has ridden a number of stage races and won races. He has ridden the Tour of Britain three times and the under-23 Giro twice.
In 2023 he won three stages and the overall classification at the Tour of Japan. His palmares includes prestigious British races such as the Rutland-Melton CiCLE Classic and the Rapha Lincoln Grand Prix. He used his sprinting speed to win the US Pro Criterium Championship as a teenager in 2021, and again in 2022 and 2023.
Soudal-Quick Step were impressed with Lamperti’s speed and race craft, and his place in the team for 2024 was long assured.
Patrick Lefevere may have lost some of his best Classics riders and sprinters in recent years but he is always good at developing young talent like Lamperti.
“A lot of the big sprinters have left but the team still believes in that Classics and sprinting culture. That was a lot of my choice in coming here,” Lamperti explained.
“I think they still know what they're doing with that. You've seen how many guys have come to the team and become sprinters and big Classics riders. I think that DNA never changes, even though they have a lot of good GC riders as well. I really trust them to help develop me
