Remember all those heartwarming stories about Patrick Lefevere and his Deceuninck – Quick Step Wolfpack? What esprit de corps, what powerful camaraderie, what all-for-for-one team cohesion. Yeah, that’s gone.
That charming story happened back when the squad was winning 5o-60 races a year. Now, now so much and Lefevere has taken to biting remarks about a number of his top riders. His latest target: former World Champion Julian Alaphilippe.
“I love Julian just like everyone else,” said Lefevere, speaking to the Grand Plaeau podcast. “How can you not love him? But I also have to be realistic: he takes a big bite out of my budget. I want to see results.”
It’s hardly the first time Lefevere has complained in the media about Alaphilippe, who has struggled with several significant crashes in the last two seasons. However, his team manager does seem to go out of his way to dump on the Frenchman.
“You have to be honest: when Julian excelled in recent years, there was no Van der Poel, Pogacar, Van Aert,” “I learned a beautiful expression in French: ‘Dans la vie, tout le monde doit justifier son salaire’. In life, everyone has to justify their salary. Well, he will have received his salary for three years at the end of 2024.”
This reminds us of when Russian nutball Oleg Tinkoff tried to cut Peter Sagan’s salary when he decided the Slovakian rider wasn’t winning enough races. Lefevere has the same level of ego, bombast and need for attention.
While at times it seems the Belgian has a talent for motivation — and you can’t argue with his long-term results — he does seem far more partial to the stick then the carrot. He constantly berates his athletes for lack of performance and enjoys stirring up controversy.
It’s part of a wider picture of a man who seems willfully stuck in a previous era. When his sprinter Sam Bennett fell out of favor, Lefevere called him “the epitome of mental weakness” and then went on to describe Bennett’s return to his previous squad as “the same as women who still return home after domestic violence.” Instant, world-wide condemnation followed but Lefevere sees no reason to update his views.
After all, this is someone who went on television to claim that women are being sexually harassed because they’re out drinking more. “Women used to not drink. Now they drink as much as we do. Not everyone is good at it, sometimes they tread on thin ice,” said Lefevere. This is where he took the undisputed title of pro cycling’s number one misogynist.
Alaphilippe has become Lefevere’s favorite whipping boy and it’s been going on for several years. He was hammering his start rider back in January. “I told him I was not happy at all. I understand his illnesses and falls, but you can’t keep hiding behind that. It was the cold truth.”
That’s a lot of yapping or rabies-level barking. Perhaps Lefevere sees himself more as a dog trainer than a manager. All this sound like a very unhappy Wolfpack. And Julian Alaphilippe must be thinking, man, I’d sure like to get out of this crazy Belgian kennel.
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