No one gave longer, longer interviews than the big boss himself at the Soudal Quick-Step press day. “I’m in good shape,” laughed Patrick Lefevere (69). And oh. Lefevere of his re-established relationship with Evenepoel, of the millions that Zdenek Bakala continues to pump into the team and of his successor who may not be his successor after all.
I WAIT. Patrick Lefevere: “With Remco we are aiming for the podium at the Tour”
* On Bakala’s commitment: “Contract until the end of 2027”
“I don’t understand why people say that the love between Bakala and the team has cooled. This is a big misconception,” Lefevere says. According to him, the commitment of the Czech credit institution has not diminished after the failure of the merger talks. It is certainly not true that there has been a problem between the owner and the CEO since then. Lefevere: “Bakala on the other hand was open to me from the first minute about the merger. If people wanted to talk to him without me, he refused.”
Bakala appears to financially guarantee the team until the end of 2027, and not until the end of 2025 as suggested. Lefevere: “With one nuance: in March 2025 I will be together with Bakala and my three main sponsors, Soudal, Quick-Step and Specialized. If a party no longer feels well, it can leave a year earlier, therefore at the end of 2026. The team then still has 21 months to find a new sponsor. The future is anchored.”
Bakala will therefore not reduce his financial contribution. Lefevere quotes the numbers: “Bakala will also pay a bank guarantee of 7.5 million euros to the UCI this year. It’s money frozen for a year. Nobody wants to do it, but Bakala doesn’t find it annoying, he does it spontaneously. He pays from the start and will make additional payments in the future if necessary. He also guaranteed the arrival of Mikel Landa. I can also send him that invoice.”
©AFP
* On his relationship with Evenepoel: “I’m not vindictive”
In the summer, relations with the Remco Evenepoel clan broke down, following the flirtation of/with Ineos Grenadiers. Those wrinkles would have been smoothed out by now. “Things were said in Glasgow that perhaps I shouldn’t have said,” says Lefevere. “And there was something, but today I have no discussions with Remco. It happens at some point in every ménage, but I’m not vindictive: I put a limit on it. Our relationship is good.”
Which doesn’t mean the two are close friends. “That is not possible in my position,” Lefevere says. “It’s hard for me to get emotionally involved. As a team leader you want that bond with your driver because you always want to know what’s going on in his mind, but as a manager distance is necessary. When the riders have reached the end of their contract, they have no sympathy for me at the negotiating table.”
Patrick Lefevere and Remco Evenepoel at the Giro 2023 © Instagram photo Patrick Lefevere
* On the appointment of Jürgen Foré: “I don’t decide who my successor will be”
With Jürgen Foré, Soudal Quick-Step gets a COO for the first time. In the organizational chart he will be positioned just below Lefevere. “I jokingly said he should do everything I no longer feel like doing,” Lefevere said. The current CEO does not dare say that Foré will ultimately have to succeed Lefevere. “That’s not my problem. When the time comes, the main shareholder will choose my successor. And if Bakala wants an American, he will be an American”.
Lefevere already seems to have won for Foré. “First of all he tried to become CEO of Lotto-Dstny, but he was politically blocked there. I have full faith in Jurgen. He brings with him a nice CV from Deloitte (financial and corporate services provider, ed.). His card says strategic consultancy. He must also teach this to the team: you can’t get up in the morning and raise your finger in the air to feel where the wind is blowing. You need a plan.
In terms of character, the CEO and COO seem to be polar opposites. Will it work? Lefevere: “Jurgen is braver, while I’m the bad one, but I think he’s a good addition.”
Jürgen Foré and Patrick Lefevere. © Photo News
* Regarding the failure of the merger negotiations: “I will kick out of the team anyone who doesn’t give their all”
In the fall, emotions within the team ran high. A possible merger with Jumbo-Visma threatened to cost many riders and staff their jobs. Lefevere doesn’t want that difficult transition to drag on. “If you’re stupid, you’ll keep coming back to it,” he says. “In sport you have to move forward. We are all professionals and must behave accordingly. If there are those who can’t move on, he should have left.”
Lefevere does not appear to be a big supporter of the merger, but this turns out to be the wrong interpretation. “Officially I can’t say, but I would have been the ‘lucky guy’. My shares would be paid for, I would be given a consultant role where I could still make my own bill, with far less responsibility, and Bakala thought I deserved a parting bonus for service rendered. I would have passed the checkout three times.”
The dossier also examined Evenepoel’s camp: after all, the leader would benefit most from a merger (and an associated strong team). Has this caused a breach of trust with some riders? Lefevere: “Maybe Remco was a victim too. There were two bosses who met and dreamed of creating a ‘dream team’ (Bakala and Robert van der Wallen, commissioner and financier of Jumbo-Visma, ed.), but perhaps they tried a little too hastily. In the week before the Giro di Lombardia a heartfelt word was said among the riders. Intense, but you have to be able to put it behind you. If this still leaves its mark, or if there are guys who don’t try as hard, I’ll kick them off the team. No doubt.”
© Photo News
* On Tour ambitions: “I’m going to the podium”
Lefevere calls Belgium “desperate”, gradually desperate after 46 years without a Tour victory. “The pressure will be strong again”, he knows, but he doesn’t play hide and seek. “Remco maybe doesn’t say it himself, but he dreams of the podium. We won’t hide this ambition, but I won’t throw myself off the balcony if it doesn’t work. I believe we have a team that can deliver it in the best way. I know many doubt it, but I like to be underestimated.
© BELGIUM
Patrick Lefevere on Evenepoel and canceled merger: “I proposed aiming for 2025, but they wanted to go faster”
“Please don’t come and cry now”: Patrick Lefevere also does not spare BORA-hansgrohe in the transfer saga around Uijtdebroeks
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2024-01-09 20:29:27
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