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The Patrick Lefevere Depreciation Thread

About Cavendish:

"He's now starting to talk to me about his image. He says: 'with my image I am worth so much'. I say: 'your image in London is different from your image in West Flanders, with all due respect'. None of my West-Flemish sponsors are going to make amends to pay Mark Cavendish a higher wage for his image."

"But should I take the risk of sacrificing someone who might be faster than Mark? For a record which is essentially of no use to us as a team. And then, if he breaks the record, he might ask me for a bonus too."

"Then it starts: what are we going to do with him? Many riders become performance coaches based on their experience, but training is also needed. He also wants to walk next to me, learn the trade, be a PR man. I say: You're out of luck, I signed with my main sponsors until 2027, what are you going to teach me?"

How Mark dares to ask for more money based on his results? It's unbelievable. Someone goes to the Tour, that meaningless race for a West Flanders sponsor, wins 4 stages, the green jersey, ties himself with Merckx and then has the audacity to ask for more money!

And what could he teach old grumpy about PR, if he even managed to secure sponsors until 2027 with only the biggest belgian talent to offer.
 
About Cavendish:

"He's now starting to talk to me about his image. He says: 'with my image I am worth so much'. I say: 'your image in London is different from your image in West Flanders, with all due respect'. None of my West-Flemish sponsors are going to make amends to pay Mark Cavendish a higher wage for his image."

"But should I take the risk of sacrificing someone who might be faster than Mark? For a record which is essentially of no use to us as a team. And then, if he breaks the record, he might ask me for a bonus too."

"Then it starts: what are we going to do with him? Many riders become performance coaches based on their experience, but training is also needed. He also wants to walk next to me, learn the trade, be a PR man. I say: You're out of luck, I signed with my main sponsors until 2027, what are you going to teach me?"

How Mark dares to ask for more money based on his results? It's unbelievable. Someone goes to the Tour, that meaningless race for a West Flanders sponsor, wins 4 stages, the green jersey, ties himself with Merckx and then has the audacity to ask for more money!

And what could he teach old grumpy about PR, if he even managed to secure sponsors until 2027 with only the biggest belgian talent to offer.
Where did he say this?
 
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For the sake of cycling news websites and forums all over the world he should stay in cycling for a few more decades.

That's true, although I dislike the format a bit... pieces of interviews and columns from Belgian websites and newspapers... they desperately need to produce this with the Hollywood means it deserves. Also, no Netflix - one season at a time, instead one episode a week, the way that it used to be when I was young... can't believe all the material they have already let slip from their fingers... but there's surely still enough in the future.
 
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Big fish in a small pond, the only team that primarily focuses on the cobbles and bunch sprints for years.

there’s an element of truth to that. There’s competition from the Lotto Soudal’s and BORAs but he’s not competing with the mega budget teams for GC. his real uncontested value though is his wheeler-dealering, just consistently getting top riders on the cheap. I think it’s mostly that which makes it worth the sponsor’s while putting up with him being a loud embarrassing ***.
 
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there’s an element of truth to that. There’s competition from the Lotto Soudal’s and BORAs but he’s not competing with the mega budget teams for GC. his real uncontested value though is his wheeler-dealerin, just consistently getting top riders on the cheap. I think it’s mostly that which makes it worth the sponsor’s while putting up with him being a loud embarrassing ***.
It's the New England Patriots effect in cycling.
 
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