Patrick Lefebvre signs off on Soudal-Quick Step’s missing contestant: ‘Bearded by directors for weeks’ | Cycling

“When the season ends for the riders, my season begins.”

Patrick Lefebvre has not been able to relax since the cancellation of the acquisition/merger with Jumbo-Visma.

“Sometimes I scroll through Instagram with jealous looks. I see a driver residing in earthly paradise and doing everything I can no longer do at my age, like water skiing. And then here I am in Belgium…”

Lefebvre still has a lot to do. For example, Soudal-Quick Step only had 26 riders under contract next year, while a WorldTour team must have at least 27 riders.

“It came to my attention that all the managers who were already pushing me in December last year could see in a certain location that we were still lacking a rider. I have been bombarded with requests in recent weeks,” laughs Lefebvre.

Meanwhile, managers no longer need to ask for Lefevere’s cell phone number.

“The 27th position has been occupied since this weekend. I’ll keep this rider’s name to myself for a while. Because I don’t know if this boy has already reported to his team this year or not. Anyway, he was at the end of his contract with this team.” “

As Lefebvre was bombarded with requests from managers, several people bombarded him with the question: “How is Remco Evenepoel?”

“After the Tour of Lombardi, Remco left for a trip to America. If all goes well, he will now perform wind tunnel tests in the specialty with Casper Asgren, among others.”

Is it now certain that Evenepoel will focus solely on the tour next year? Or is there talk about the Giro as well?

“Next week, we will hold the first meeting with the team,” Lefebvre concludes, “and then the programs will be discussed.”