His comments went almost unnoticed this weekend but they have resurfaced for a few hours via social networks. In the column he writes in the Flemish media Het Nieuwsblad, Soudal Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere once again offered himself an outing on his favorite target, Julian Alaphilippe.
Brought to comment on the disappointing results of his men on the GP E3 of Harelbeke (Lampaert 29th, Alaphilippe 50th, Asgreen 77th), last Friday, the manager tried to “weigh (his) words”, as he says, but the bottom line remains the same.
Again and again, he blames the profitability of his foals, and in particular that of his double French world champion. “I’m weighing my words – after all, the UCI ethics committee reads – but it’s well below average,” he said. I don’t blame anyone for not being able to follow Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert, who are out of category, but even in the group behind them we don’t participate. »
“No longer conclude contracts in euphoria”
More ironic than frontal, Patrick Lefevere knows that he has been closely watched since the psychodrama of last February. But according to him, nothing justifies these performances. “In terms of nutrition, equipment and training, we are at the top of the World Tour.”
“The fact is that I made mistakes in my buying and selling policy. I read everywhere that we are reducing the spring team based on the work on the Tours and that is absolutely true. But with riders like Julian Alaphilippe, Yves Lampaert and Kasper Asgreen, a significant part of the salary budget still goes to the leaders for Flemish work. The lesson for me: no longer conclude contracts in euphoria, which perhaps happened too often with the runners mentioned. »
In an interview with the Belgian magazine HUMO, Lefevere attacked the French champion and his partner Marion Rousse much more violently. Blaming his French rider for a lifestyle with “too many parties and too much alcohol”, he added that the cyclist, under contract until the end of 2024, was “under the control of Marion” Rousse, also director of the women’s Tour de France, who he asked to “let go of the leash”.
Called to order by the UCI, he agreed to a formal apology. But not in substance, which should not have convinced Marion Rousse, who had chosen for the first time to come out of silence. As a reminder, Alaphilippe had obtained a salary increase of 2.3 million euros annually in 2021 after his first world title.
In the meantime, Patrick Lefevere swears, we won’t do it again. To these murderous sentences? No. But he will no longer agree to talk about contracts this season, he says, before the big meeting in Paris Roubaix, on April 7, a monument which marks the end of the Flandrian classics.
Until then, several major races are on the program: A Travers les Flanders this Wednesday, then the always highly anticipated “De Ronde” (The Tour of Flanders) on Sunday.
