Reckon there is any pressure on them to bring the French champion to the tour?
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I’m sure it’s tracked somewhere, but I think there’s been plenty of times when the French champion hasn’t been at the Tour (and Italian/Giro, Spanish/Vuelta, Belgian/Ronde) and not always by injury or unavailability either. Edit: Easy example, Demarre was winning races for fun, riding for a French team last year, but his team had Pinot, so they went with a team to support him in the mountains.Reckon there is any pressure on them to bring the French champion to the tour?
A knee injury keeps Sam Bennett out of the Tour and that has caused resentment at Patrick Lefevere. The manager of Deceuninck-Quick Step questions the injury of the Irishman. "I'm starting to think it's more performance anxiety than just pain,"
"I cannot prove that he does not have knee pain, but I am starting to think more and more that it is more fear of failure than just pain. Yesterday he had to come to Belgium, but then there were problems with his plane again. Then you start to think strange things. He'll have to come anyway. I'm not going to let this pass."
Lefevere twijfelt aan uitleg Bennett: "Ik laat dit niet zomaar voorbijgaan" | sporza
Een knieblessure houdt Sam Bennett weg uit de Tour en dat heeft voor wrevel gezorgd bij Patrick Lefevere. De manager van Deceuninck-Quick Step stelt de blessure van de Ier in vraag. "Ik begin te denken dat het meer faalangst is dan alleen maar pijn", is Lefevere scherp bij Sporza.sporza.be
What the .. is this now. Good old Lefevre being Lefevre I guess.
Lefevere, I can't tell you how much I'm disgusted - not that anyone is surprised.
Good point, it definitely has the sound of someone talking to friends (if he has any) in a pub than to a reporter.It is truly despicable, isn't it? I wonder if he has a drink or two before talking to media occasionally. This almost isn't explainable rationally.
Just like threatening Almeida to keep his bike in the bus if he failed to work for EvenepoelGood point, it definitely has the sound of someone talking to friends (if he has any) in a pub than to a reporter.
Shades of Tinkov mouthing off after a few drinks. Even if something is strange about the situation to him, I don't like the way he sprouts it off to the public like that. Maybe he's getting a bit senile as he ages? Or maybe he's always been like that?Good point, it definitely has the sound of someone talking to friends (if he has any) in a pub than to a reporter.
Lefevere does have a drinking problem, allegedly.It is truly despicable, isn't it? I wonder if he has a drink or two before talking to media occasionally. This almost isn't explainable rationally.
Usually, sure. His heart seems to be in the right place. De Gendt still has him blocked on Twitter, though, and then there are his disrespectful rants re: Almeida and, now, Bennett. The Almeida situation in particular I didn't get, seeing as he wasn't willing to pony up the dough to offer him a halfway serious contract extension - again, allegedly. :-/For all his hypocrisy I tend to defend Lefevere much more than others because usually he always backs up his riders
Lefevere does have a drinking problem, allegedly.
Usually, sure. His heart seems to be in the right place. De Gendt still has him blocked on Twitter, though, and then there are his disrespectful rants re: Almeida and, now, Bennett. The Almeida situation in particular I didn't get, seeing as he wasn't willing to pony up the dough to offer him a halfway serious contract extension - again, allegedly. :-/
For the most part, is what I meant. True, those are some messed up examples.His heart is in the right place?! I didn't think I'd hear this about PL from someone anymore.
Yes, it's a business, but you're a little too harsh, IMO. He handled the Vakoc situation well, for example.Lefevere looks after his riders when it's of use to him.
For the most part, is what I meant. True, those are some messed up examples.
Yes, it's a business, but you're a little too harsh, IMO. He handled the Vakoc situation well, for example.
Google translated:
"Vakoč his contract with Quick-Step ended at the end of 2018, but team boss Patrick Lefevere showed his best side. “I am eternally grateful to Patrick for that. He immediately reassured me. "Take your time to fully recover, I'll renew your contract," he promised. That's what happened. I could sign up for a year.”
Could you also stay there in 2020? "Yes. And I've thought it through too. Because I had a great time with the team for six years, but on the other hand… I was ready for something new.”
Isn't that a little ungrateful to Lefevere? “Well, I don't think Patrick is mad. I did my job well in 2019. I worked hard for the team. No, I have a clear conscience and I think we broke up well. It is true that I was very charmed by the proposal of the brothers Roodhooft and Alpecin-Fenix.”
Petr Vakoc: “Bij Alpecin-Fenix proeven van kasseiklassiekers”
Na zes jaar Quick-Step verhuisde Petr Vakoč eind 2019 naar Alpecin-Fenix. WielerFlits had tijdens de ploegvoorstelling een uitgebreide babbel met de 27-jarige Tsjech. De hamvraag: haalt Vakoč, twee jaar zijn zware val, opnieuw zijn topniveau? "Absoluut", klink het overtuigd. "Mijn data zijn nu awww.wielerflits.be
With what we know -- or think we know -- about the internal workings of Quick-Step and its mercurial but successful boss and his relationship to his latest top sprinter, it is possible to see it another way.
Perhaps PL believes Sam's injury is minor or imagined and that the real problem is the sprinter's fear that if he fails to perform up to expectations at the TdF, then his market value would plummet. As far as I recall, Bennet has no confirmed contract with another team at this moment, so Tour performance could still be q big factor in any negotiations.
To be clear, I am not arguing that this is the case, or that Sam is sandbagging. After all, he is a winning sprinter who took home the 2020 Green Jersey, and his career palmares are impressive.
Nor am I trying to be charitable to PL, who clearly put his foot in his mouth once again (See Almeida affair). But I can see how the above dynamic may have evolved and that would explain, though not justify, Don Patrick's latest outburst.
Cav (agna)?Reckon there is any pressure on them to bring the French champion to the tour?