Before the coronavirus pandemic interrupted the race and forced riders to shut down, the Detunink-Quickstep team had racked up more wins than any other team in three short months of racing. Remco Evenpoel, who won five of the team's 15 victories, expressed relief at the revised race calendar announced by the UCI on Tuesday.

With the Olympics postponed until 2021, the young Belgian has a new target to choose from in the compressed August-November road season, which starts with the Strade Bianche on August 1 and is scheduled to end with the Vuelta a España on November 8.

"Of course, I'm not a fan of the 'road season'.

"Of course, it's a new calendar so we're still looking at it, but it looks like all the important big races are lined up, which is exciting at the moment," Evenpoel said in a press release.

"We need more time to sit down with the team and find out what our new goals are and how we can achieve them. Certainly, after the last few months, it's nice to be able to write something down and work towards it. My main goal this year was the Olympics, so we'll have to see what we can accomplish in the meantime and make the most of the rest of the year."

The 20-year-old was scheduled to make his Grand Tour debut at this month's Giro d'Italia, but with the race postponed to October 3, there may be some changes to the Belgian's calendar. The team did not say which rider would be targeted for which race, but Evenpoel just wants to get racing again.

"It feels great to wear the number again and I'm looking forward to it," he said.

Julien Alaphilippe, who wore the Tour de France leader's jersey for 14 days last year and won two stages, is certainly eager to head back to the Tour, which starts on August 29, when the UCI Road World Championship time trial coincides with the final stage.

"It's a big relief to have something official in these tough times," Alaphilippe said.

"We now have a real goal, a race in August, September, or October, and we're going to talk to the team this week about a race in August, September, or October," Alaphilippe said, "and we'll be able to get a better idea of where we're going to be.

Classics specialist Zdenek Stival may return to his cyclo-cross days and focus on late October, targeting the Tour de Flanders on October 18 and Paris-Roubaix on October 25.

"It seems odd that Flanders and Roubaix are in the fall, but it's great to know when they will be held, October should be a pretty busy month and it will be tough to see what our program will look like once we get back to competition, but spoke with the sport director, I can't wait to start working towards these goals."