The Patrick Lefevere Depreciation Thread

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Just watched the 3rd episode of the docuseries on Lefevere. Some things in the 2nd episode explain his character a bit. Got beaten by his mother on a daily basis until he was 13 (the moment he grabbed her arm and told her next time he would break her arm). And his father who's business went bankrupt because he was too gullible when employees were skimming. The family lost everything, house had to be sold, personal possessions were confiscated, even Lefevere's child savings were seized. When his dad tried to "save" some of their possessions, the justice department found out and threw him in jail for over a year.

 

[Lequack]

Patrick Lefevere. Godfather of the course
Six-part docu series about Patrick Lefevere, one of the most important and most influential figures in Belgian cycling for 30 years.

VRT MAX

www.vrt.be

 

[Monte Serra]

Patrick Lefevere. Godfather of the course
Six-part docu series about Patrick Lefevere, one of the most important and most influential figures in Belgian cycling for 30 years.

VRT MAX

www.vrt.be

Enjoyable viewing, if slightly hagiographical. Note that "koers" doesn't really translate as "course". "Godfather of procycling" would be a closer approximation.

 

[CyclistAbi]

about the quote "On his tombstone it won't say: "Didn't win the Tour":

PL actually meant to say, with this quote, he didn't care if he died and didn't win the Tour: life is more than the Tour and his own philosophy about succes in life isn't depending on a Tour win.

But I see that many people here interpreted it the other way around (that he believes he will win a Tour in his life).

Thanks for pointing that out. I guess you are a native speaker and can give more clear picture on what was actually said. On top of that in this day and age sometimes the "clickbait" title selected by journalist can differs from what the interviewed person actually said. What i did is i used Google translate on an article posted here:

Page 23 - The Patrick Lefevere Depreciation Thread

Page 23 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.

forum.cyclingnews.com

It translated this section:

“Als ik sterf, zal er niet op mijn zerk staan : "hij heeft de Tour niet gewonnen".

Into this:

“When I die, it won't say on my tombstone: "he didn't win the Tour".

So i guess the meaning changed or got lost in the translation. Or the original claim from a journalist was different from what PL actually said.

P.S. But all in all i personally don't believe PL doesn't care if he wins the Tour or not. What kind of an attitude would be that.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Thinking about it more i guess the translated text indeed can be interpreted in two ways.

I somehow assumed he is very committed, that when he dies, that before he will make sure it won't say he didn't win the Tour.

But indeed one could interpreted it as saying that he already achieved so much, then when he dies, it doesn't change much for him if he has won the Tour or not.

Fair point.

 

[Carrick-On-Seine]

He must have flown RyanAir again today. Best place 11th.

 

[Lequack]

More choice words for Alaphilippe from the ever caring Lafavere

Patrick Lefevere signed a new attack on Julian Alaphilippe this Monday in the RMC podcast "Grand Plateau". As often in recent months, the boss of Soudal Quick-Step scolded the Frenchman, who had a difficult start to the season. 'I learned a very beautiful expression in French: 'In life, everyone must justify their salary.' He got the salary for three seasons until 2024," he said in RMC's podcast "Grand Plateau".

And it is obviously not his success in the Ardèche Classic that will calm his Flemish boss, far from being satisfied with the last seasons of his protege. " You can say 'luckily he became twice world champion'. Apart from that, he won the first stage of the Tour and the yellow jersey. I understand that the French teams are excited with that but not me. I like it, like everyone else (…) But I have to be realistic: it eats up a large part of my budget and I still want results too .

More:

Lefevere se paye à nouveau Alaphilippe "Dans la vie, tout le monde doit justifier son salaire"

Patrick Lefevere a signé une nouvelle attaque envers Julian Alaphilippe ce lundi dans le podcast de RMC "Grand Plateau".

www.eurosport.fr

 

[Red Rick]

Making Lefevere cry is the real Liege we made along the way

 

[Bardamu]

Enjoyable viewing, if slightly hagiographical. Note that "koers" doesn't really translate as "course". "Godfather of procycling" would be a closer approximation.

Boonen saying that Lefevere and Vanmol are the most important figures in cycling in the battle against doping made me laugh and feel bad for the sport. Doesn't look good on himself either.

 

[Monte Serra]

Boonen saying that Lefevere and Vanmol are the most important figures in cycling in the battle against doping made me laugh and feel bad for the sport. Doesn't look good on himself either.

Yes, that was a bit much. The obvious questions about Mapei's dominance in the 90's were also avoided. But that's best discussed in another subforum.

 

[CyclistAbi]

I like on how PL puts that much emphasis on how much he is paying JA. For JA hence it comes down to not being tricked into canceling the contract. Now if PL actually wants some results too. Then likely he needs to change attitude and start appreciating JA more. Mobbing won't work.

 

[Berniece]

Boonen saying that Lefevere and Vanmol are the most important figures in cycling in the battle against doping made me laugh and feel bad for the sport. Doesn't look good on himself either.

Why? I never followed the "news" of Vanmol being a shady doctor, so I don't know what he did wrong since the Boonen-era.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Why? I never followed the "news" of Vanmol being a shady doctor, so I don't know what he did wrong since the Boonen-era.

There were accusations by a journalist with manifestation anxiety who claimed to have multiple witnesses and proof that Lefevere and Vanmol were having their riders doped. This journalist got a politician involved but when push came to shove, he had no proof and only had one witness. That witness was later believed to have been Dimitri De Fauw who had mentally collapsed, got into drugs etc, after (in his mind) causing the death of Galvez, on the track. De Fauw didn't leave the team on good terms either and a few years later he committed suicide.
The entire case was dismissed and looked like it was a fabrication by a journalist trying to score a big story, while using a mentally instable person who held a grudge. The journalist was sued and he lost in court. Whether that means Lefevere and Vanmol are clean is obviously a completely different issue, just that that time, the accusations were not based on credible evidence.

If Shaynes wants to ban me again for talking about doping, i hope he bans everyone in this topic who was making insinuations or asking about what happened as well, as well as all the people in other thread making insinuations on a daily basis, and they can just shut this forum down. I'm just providing context and the backstory.

 

[Berniece]

There were accusations by a journalist with manifestation anxiety who claimed to have multiple witnesses and proof that Lefevere and Vanmol were having their riders doped. This journalist got a politician involved but when push came to shove, he had no proof and only had one witness. That witness was later believed to have been Dimitri De Fauw who had mentally collapsed, got into drugs etc, after (in his mind) causing the death of Galvez, on the track. De Fauw didn't leave the team on good terms either and a few years later he committed suicide.
The entire case was dismissed and looked like it was a fabrication by a journalist trying to score a big story, while using a mentally instable person who held a grudge. The journalist was sued and he lost in court. Whether that means Lefevere and Vanmol are clean is obviously a completely different issue, just that that time, the accusations were not based on credible evidence.

If Shaynes wants to ban me again for talking about doping, i hope he bans everyone in this topic who was making insinuations or asking about what happened as well, as well as all the people in other thread making insinuations on a daily basis, and they can just shut this forum down. I'm just providing context and the backstory.

I watched the episode this morning, but was just wondering if there were other stories besides those, about Vanmol, because if that's it, I don't really see an issue. It was as if Bardamu was implying that there was more to the story than was told during the episode.

I'm really liking the series. I was never in the hate Lefevere camp because I felt he was wrongly portrayed in the media multiple times. When you watch the series it's quite clear what type of person he is. You can dislike some of his methods, but overall he's a great guy.

 

[Breh]

Well it is a hagiography. No wonder it makes him look good.
It is filmed by Stephanie Bex, the PR woman of Quick step and Lieven Van Gils, the interviewer, would rather die than ask a critical question.

 

[Gratemans]

Well it is a hagiography. No wonder it makes him look good.
It is filmed by Stephanie Bex, the PR woman of Quick step and Lieven Van Gils, the interviewer, would rather die than ask a critical question.

Ha, very well put. It was a very interesting documentary if not only because of the inside view you get, but it had nothing to do with journalism.

I like outspoken characters in sports. I'm a big fan of Ibrahimovic for example. But what makes him so appealing to me is that the ridiculous things he says are often not actually serious and he is just fooling around a bit. I mean, Zlatan still thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he also plays a bit with that image. Come to think of it, it's also what Sagan did. Coming back tot Lefevre: he's just ***-talking whatever and whomever the hell he wants. I briefly considered the Mourinho argument: where he takes attention away from the team. But when he's actually attacking his own riders that argument doesn't fly either.

I don't know who made the point yesterday and it what topic, but it was an excellent one: Pat was bragging Alaphilippe was winning him big races while still being on a pretty mediocre contract. Well, in cycling there's a bit of a 'belated reward'. Alaphilippe might be on a big salary now, and underperforming, but he already overperformed on his previous contract, so Pat shouldn't be moaning as much as he is.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ha, very well put. It was a very interesting documentary if not only because of the inside view you get, but it had nothing to do with journalism.

I like outspoken characters in sports. I'm a big fan of Ibrahimovic for example. But what makes him so appealing to me is that the ridiculous things he says are often not actually serious and he is just fooling around a bit. I mean, Zlatan still thinks he's the greatest thing since sliced bread, but he also plays a bit with that image. Come to think of it, it's also what Sagan did. Coming back tot Lefevre: he's just ***-talking whatever and whomever the hell he wants. I briefly considered the Mourinho argument: where he takes attention away from the team. But when he's actually attacking his own riders that argument doesn't fly either.

I don't know who made the point yesterday and it what topic, but it was an excellent one: Pat was bragging Alaphilippe was winning him big races while still being on a pretty mediocre contract. Well, in cycling there's a bit of a 'belated reward'. Alaphilippe might be on a big salary now, and underperforming, but he already overperformed on his previous contract, so Pat shouldn't be moaning as much as he is.

The coming years will be rough for him. Good luck trying to lowball potential climbing superdomestiques when teams like Ineos, UAE, Jumbo annd Bahrain are willing to throw big money at them.

I don't even mind him saying that he isn't happy about results, but him bitching and moaning about his own riders salaries and talking crap about them when they don't perform just screams no class to me. And it's not like he gets set up by the media to make certain statements (like it often happens with riders), the guy goes out of his way to talk smack about his own riders.

 

[Lequack]

Look who decided to "motivate" his riders today in Fleche Wallonne, by parking his BMW at the side of the road

 

[dercuforever]

Just watched the 3rd episode of the docuseries on Lefevere. Some things in the 2nd episode explain his character a bit. Got beaten by his mother on a daily basis until he was 13 (the moment he grabbed her arm and told her next time he would break her arm). And his father who's business went bankrupt because he was too gullible when employees were skimming. The family lost everything, house had to be sold, personal possessions were confiscated, even Lefevere's child savings were seized. When his dad tried to "save" some of their possessions, the justice department found out and threw him in jail for over a year.

Well, that is rough, to say the least.

 

[Lequack]

I'm really liking the series. I was never in the hate Lefevere camp because I felt he was wrongly portrayed in the media multiple times. When you watch the series it's quite clear what type of person he is. You can dislike some of his methods, but overall he's a great guy.

I also think he talk a lot of crap for sure, but how he handled when Jakobsen and Remco were hurt shows to me that inside that is a person who cares.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I also think he talk a lot of crap for sure, but how he handled when Jakobsen and Remco were hurt shows to me that inside that is a person who cares.

I get the feeling that you just need to confront him about things directly and talk things out. Things might get a loud, but he won't really hold a grudge afterwards.
Bettiol called him directly after the "where's Quickstep?!" incident when Patrick got mad and told him that it just happened in the heat of the moment and that it wasn't out of spite (didn't want to have Quickstep riding against him in the classics as a result of it) and Patrick said np and told him that he didn't steal his win from anyone and earned it on the road.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Look who decided to "motivate" his riders today in Fleche Wallonne, by parking his BMW at the side of the road

A concerned shepard looking after his sheep herd.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

Look who decided to "motivate" his riders today in Fleche Wallonne, by parking his BMW at the side of the road

Has he got a puncture and is waiting for neutral service?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Look who decided to "motivate" his riders today in Fleche Wallonne, by parking his BMW at the side of the road

It looks like the sight of him had an affect on the Equipo Kern rider's stomach.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

To the photo of Patrick next to his BMW, watching the race:

Patrick appears to be broken. The usual fire has left his eyes and face. The body language tells the same.

Of course he enjoys Remco‘s success, as if Remco was his son.

But Patrick‘s heart beats for the „Flandriens“ within his team. The Lampaerts’, Asgreens et al.. That is what this team is about.

And these guys have disappointed him bitterly now, for two springs in a row…