Visma | Lease a Bike celebrates Vingegaard's birthday at training camp, Evenepoel absent at camp Soudal Quick-Step

Many cycling teams schedule their first training camp for the upcoming season in early December. For example, UAE-Team Emirates was the first team to announce its leaders' race schedules on Tuesday, which Visma | Lease a Bike and Soudal Quick-Step will also have watched with curiosity. Those teams, too, are now in Spain for their first meeting.

Tadej Pogacar, the major competitor of Jonas Vingegaard and Remco Evenepoel, announced Tuesday that he will ride a jampacked spring program next year, with the Tour de France as his big goal. In doing so, the Slovenian will opt for one other grand tour, although he officially postponed that choice until the Giro d'Italia route is announced in early January.

So Vingegaard can also start putting together his puzzle for 2024, with some rumors already buzzing that the Giro could be an option. He will probably have been less preoccupied on Tuesday, as the Dane celebrated his birthday at the Visma | Lease a Bike team training camp. Vingegaard, who had not raced since August and became a father for the second time, turned 28.

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Evenepoel not present at training camp Soudal Quick-Step

Soudal Quick-Step traditionally chooses Calpe as the destination for its training camps. The Belgian team headed to the Spanish coastal town on Monday with 29 riders, including additions Pascal Eenkhoorn, Ethan Hayter, Gianmarco Garofoli, Valentin Paret-Peintre, Andrea Raccagni, Maximilian Schachmann, and Dries Van Gestel. The total of 29 meant that one man was absent: via a press release, the Belgian team announced that Remco Evenepoel would not travel to Spain after his fall last week.

His trainer Koen Pelgrim spoke in the team's communiqué. "It is always a special time to get all our riders together. As well as several days of commercial activities for our sponsors, we have some physical tests and then some real training scheduled on the roads of southern Spain. But more than anything, it is a chance for our riders and staff to build a bond in preparation for the 2025 season," Koen added.

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