Specialized and Quick-Step. It\u2019s like beers and frites, peanut butter and jelly, cobbles and bergs.<\/p>\n
They go hand-in-hand.<\/p>\n
Only not much longer.<\/p>\n
One of cycling\u2019s most iconic and long-running relationships is getting a divorce.<\/p>\n
As first reported by Daniel Benson on his Substack<\/em> and separately verified by Wielerflits<\/em>, the contract between the California-based bike behemoth and the grizzled Belgian \u201cWolf Pack\u201d\u00a0won\u2019t be renewed in 2027.<\/p>\n Soudal Quick-Step will instead ride Merida bikes in 2027, marking its first season without Specialized and its leading S-Works models since 2011.<\/p>\n The partnering women\u2019s team AG Insurance-Soudal will also make the switch.<\/p>\n Neither Specialized nor Quick Step has confirmed the reports, and Velo<\/em> received only a telling \u201cno comment\u201d when we enquired with the team.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have a contract with Specialized until the end of the year. We have nothing more to say,\u201d a team spokesperson said Thursday.<\/p>\n Sometimes, silence speaks.<\/p>\n Specialized and Quick-Step have been together a total of 17 years \u2013 from 2007 to 2009, and 2012 to the present.<\/p>\n Few other squads in pro cycling have enjoyed such stability.<\/p>\n Their split will mark the end of an era. It also says much about the priorities of sponsors with the power of choice.<\/p>\n Superstar riders like Tom Boonen, Philippe Gilbert, Mark Cavendish, and Remco Evenepoel won monuments, grand tours, and Tour de France stages on Quick-Step\u2019s Specialized bikes.<\/p>\n The Flemish team made the U.S. brand the winningest in the bunch as the \u201cWolf Pack\u201d gobbled up all the<\/em> classics and sprints of the mid-2010s.<\/p>\n A flurry of signature-edition framesets was born of the success.<\/p>\n Rival squads looked on with envy at the Specialized Tarmac, Roubaix, and Venge rocketships that were widely hailed as the fastest, stiffest, and sleekest.<\/p>\n The Californian brand doesn\u2019t waste R&D budgets that only Trek or Giant could match.<\/p>\n Only times are changing.<\/p>\n Specialized goes where the big stars go.<\/p>\n It followed cycling celebrity Peter Sagan from team Tinkoff to Bora and finally to TotalEnergies. The retired Slovak still barrels around on bikes provided to him as part of an ongoing personal partnership.<\/p>\n More recently, climbing queen and social media star Demi Vollering expanded Specialized\u2019s footprint in the Women\u2019s WorldTour.<\/p>\n The Dutchwoman insisted FDJ Suez shift from Lapierre to the U.S. brand when she left SD Worx Protime.<\/p>\n Management at SD Worx must be thankful that Lotte Kopecky and Lorena Weibes command the clout to keep Specialized at its side.<\/p>\n And on the other side of the coin, Specialized has the heft to bring big stars to them.<\/p>\n Gravel GOAT Keegan Swenson was lured to Specialized Factory Racing when his Santa Cruz htSQD team shuttered, and the brand reportedly bankrolled Cavendish\u2019s return to Quick-Step in 2021.<\/p>\n It\u2019s understood that Evenepoel\u2019s exit this winter to rival Specialized team Red Bull Bora-Hansgrohe marked a tipping point in the long and lucrative relationship between \u201cSpesh\u201d and Quick-Step.<\/p>\n No Remco, no renewal.<\/p>\n Evenepoel is hell-bent on winning the Tour de France, and Red Bull has the viral hype and scientific resources to make it a dream partnership. If there\u2019s dollar to invest, invest it there.<\/p>\n Soudal Quick-Step\u2019s 2026 leaders Tim Merlier, Jasper Stuyven, and Paul Magnier have the willing potential but none of the beyond-the-sport allure of Remco, Tommeke, or Cav.<\/p>\n The retirement of long-time CEO Patrick Lefevere at the end of 2024 no doubt weakened ties, also.<\/p>\n Quick-Step\u2019s reported move to Merida next year seems off-key, but is perhaps a no-brainer.<\/p>\n The Taiwanese brand owns a significant stake in Specialized and manufactures some of its frames. And it\u2019s clearly got sponsorship budget to blow, because it\u2019s not currently in the WorldTour.<\/p>\n Merida\u2019s partnership with the Bahrain team franchise came to a close when Bahrain-Victorious switched to Bianchi this winter.<\/p>\n So make the most of seeing Specialized bikes in Quick-Step\u2019s signature bold blue. You won\u2019t be seeing them looking like that for much longer.<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [analyse_source url=”https:\/\/velo.outsideonline.com\/road\/road-training\/specialized-leaving-quick-step\/”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [analyse_image type=”featured” src=”https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Specialized-3.jpg”] Jim Cotton Updated April 17, 2026 08:10AM Specialized and Quick-Step. It\u2019s like beers and frites, peanut butter and jelly, cobbles and bergs. They go hand-in-hand. Only not much longer. One of cycling\u2019s most iconic and long-running relationships is getting a divorce. As first reported by Daniel Benson on his Substack and separately […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,71],"class_list":["post-1889330","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-velo-outsideonline-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889330","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1889330"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1889330\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1889330"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1889330"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1889330"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}The fastest marriage in the bunch<\/h2>\n
![\"Cavendish](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/85E_9642-2-1200x600.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
No Remco, no go?<\/h2>\n
![\"Evenepoel](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Z8D_7301-2-1-1200x768.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")
Merida is back<\/h2>\n
![\"merida](\"https:\/\/velo-cdn.outsideonline.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/merida-reacto-2025-tour-de-france-credit-chris-auld-3-1200x800.jpg?width=3840&auto=webp&quality=75&fit=cover\")