The Patrick Lefevere Depreciation Thread

[Eyeballs Out]

Marion Rousse is wel known in cycling, in journalism and in the outside world, as a ***. Ask ex-husband Galopin who was deceived by Rousse for a long time during their wedding. She had various relationships with other riders and finally ended up with Alaphilippe.... all during their wedding. She is a ***, not only in her private life, but also in her professional life.

It is therefore not surprising that the partner of Philippe Gilbert is now lashing out so heavily at her. Read the whole reaction of Gilberts partner. She is not only confirming what Lefevere has said, but also that it is three times worse.
After which she attacks Rousse head-on as a manipulative journalist... "you spend your life talking badly about people behind your microphone".... "never taking responsability".
Read the whole reaction. Rousse doesn't come out of this well.

To be continued.

I assume by "wedding" you mean "marriage".

Otherwise, that was one hell of a ceremony.

 

[jmdirt]

Let's all just calm down, everything is fine

This is why he knows about how much he drinks?

 

[saunaking]

Its ch*cken sh*t to do private business in public. Its also double ch*cken sh*t to do it when the other party isn't there to counter.

Wait, what? He's not the director/part owner of the team? Why did they interview him then? At the very least, he almost lost his job again then if that makes is better for you.

I guess I'm a part owner in Tesla then.

Anyway if you think he almost lost a job you don't get it.
He has pretty much any job he wants in cycling until he decides to quit.
How did he almost lose a job??? Even if that were true, how is that a stain against him?
So Remco and everyone else in Soudal almost lost their job too. I don't count it a black mark against Ilan Van Wilder or Mattea Catteneo that they almost lost their jobs

 

[Rackham]

Marion Rousse really is not very well-liked, it seems...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1760370660017361319

This is exactly why people shouldn't start cheerleading for rich media/sports personalities during their petty disputes with each other. People don't know the full picture & they project their own fantasies onto these characters... sans 99% of the facts.

Marion Rousse is a well presented media personality in France who gets a lot of good press & positive coverage of her work & commentary role during the TdF. She has a squeaky clean image on TV. But as we've seen with many examples (like a certain F1 boss recently), there's invariably a spectrum between the public image & the private reality.

I don't what's true or what isn't, all I know is people (aka the consumers of the sport & onlookers) should really not pick sides in these cases which relate to facts we just know diddle-squat about (like some of the comments on X talking about Alaphilippe's past 'stereotypical' behavior problems is stuff I'd never ever heard of).

The gist of my point here is I absolutely reject (on a visceral level almost) attempts by celebrities to hire my goodwill for their personal cause based on a mere strong worded social media post. This applies to all parties involved.

 

[tobydawq]

Marion Rousse is wel known in cycling, in journalism and in the outside world, as a ***. Ask ex-husband Galopin who was deceived by Rousse for a long time during their wedding. She had various relationships with other riders and finally ended up with Alaphilippe.... all during their wedding. She is a ***, not only in her private life, but also in her professional life.

Sounds like quite the wedding

 

[shadowrider]

Quite ironic for her to write "Son coureur payé une fortune doit aussi des comptes à son patron" while Gilbert himself cashed out hard at BMC for a couple of years.

Though to be fair they weren't together at that time.

There was a problem then with Van Avermaert. Later as a mid thirties he won still (big) races, amongst Flanders (!), Amstel Gold Race (!) and Roubaix (!). And more recently, just before retiring at the age of 40, he still achieved a decent level. Even winning a stage and the GC of Duinkerke. Nothing to compare with Alaphilippe, who, like Sagan, already didn't perform as a late twenties. Meanwhile still making millions a year

 

[shadowrider]

This is exactly why people shouldn't start cheerleading for rich media/sports personalities during their petty disputes with each other. People don't know the full picture & they project their own fantasies onto these characters... sans 99% of the facts.

Marion Rousse is a well presented media personality in France who gets a lot of good press & positive coverage of her work & commentary role during the TdF. She has a squeaky clean image on TV. But as we've seen with many examples (like a certain F1 boss recently), there's invariably a spectrum between the public image & the private reality.

I don't what's true or what isn't, all I know is people (aka the consumers of the sport & onlookers) should really not pick sides in these cases which relate to facts we just know diddle-squat about (like some of the comments on X talking about Alaphilippe's past 'stereotypical' behavior problems is stuff I'd never ever heard of).

The gist of my point here is I absolutely reject (on a visceral level almost) attempts by celebrities to hire my goodwill for their personal cause based on a mere strong worded social media post. This applies to all parties involved.

She is known as arrogant, and by taking advantage of her job as a journalist/reporter and organizer of the Tour femmes. An unhealthy situation. If she also has a negative influence on her husband and his cycling performance, then the employer who pays out 2 millions in wages every year plus all the support, can rightly respond. If private life weighs heavily on an employee's working life, the employer must address the employee about this. It was then up to Rousse to remain silent and do something about the situation. After numerous warnings. The fact that she reacts this way, convinces me that nothing will change and that Ala will not achieve anything during his final year. But he will get his two million. Only to change teams afterwards and, like Sagan and Froome, perform at an embarrassing level for a few more years.

 

[noob]

As per usual I never understood what someone's sex life has to do with their work ethics. Ever.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Sounds like quite the wedding

And we missed it

 

[shadowrider]

As per usual I never understood what someone's sex life has to do with their work ethics. Ever.

Nothing to do with sex life. But the more with relations, manipulation... It is no coincidence that Ala's cyclingperformance has gone downhill since he started dating Rousse. The first two years this was camouflaged by the fact that he always became world champion... after each time a lackluster season. Afterwards things went completely wrong... at 2 million per year.

 

[armchairclimber]

The disconnect between Alaphilippe's "it's all a lovely family ....wolfpack is ace" podcast yesterday and PL's typical outburst are pretty stark.

I know which of the two comes away the more likeable. And being completely honest, after the crashes/illnesses and catastrophic loss of form that Alaphilippe suffered over the last two years, with the consequent damage to his ego/self-image/self-esteem, I am not surprised that he found solace in social drinking.

The bottom line is that Lefevere is what we, in the north of England, call a gobshyte. Always has been. Always will be. I concur that he's entitled to feel a bit short changed on his investment, from a financial point of view, but I don't think he's being much of a humanist. And the comments about Rousse just leave him open to accusations of misogeny.... again (remember him asserting that women get sexually assaulted more because they drink more?).

I've seen more than a hint of mysogeny in this thread too.

Lefevere lacks class.

 

[RedheadDane]

And the comments about Rousse just leave him open to accusations of misogeny.... again (remember him asserting that women get sexually assaulted more because they drink more?).

Or those comments comparing Bennett returning to Bora to... you know...?

 

[Roku]

Lefevere is known for his misogynist remarks (remember those extremely unfortunate words depicting Bennett as a woman mistreated by her couple).

Regardless of how good or bad Rousse is as a person (which is not the topic), placing the blame of Alaphilippe poor performance on her influence is unfair. By the way Rousse dated Gallopin since his days at Auber (later married) until 2019 and Tony's performance during those years was extremely good.

 

[Berniece]

Lefevere lacks class.

Towards people that are dishonest or don’t put in the amount of work they should, sure, he’s quite an ass.

But if you do good he’ll also do everything for you. See the whole Jakobsen case for example.

 

[armchairclimber]

Towards people that are dishonest or don’t put in the amount of work they should, sure, he’s quite an ass.

But if you do good he’ll also do everything for you. See the whole Jakobsen case for example.

As I said, he lacks class.

 

[CyclistAbi]

So far i have PL at when discontent he likes to talk it publicly so personally i feel that this can be perceived as a rather negative trade, as such trade undermines trust. Still that is miles away from saying he hates women, for that we would need much more proof, not some babbling like soap operas. He hates men then too if we follow this logic.

And i guess if it would be true, that his wife is the reason Alaphilippe is only a shadow of himself, as a performing athlete. That might justify stating that publicly. But we only know a fraction of it and life is never that simple. So best to refrain ourself from judging others, better to translate that to our own relationships.

Are we supporting of our partner, do we get support? Lets rather start there. As for JA we for sure would like to see him perform again, as he did in some past seasons. He clearly is nowhere near that ATM.

 

[Berniece]

As I said, he lacks class.

Like I said, depends on the situation. Everyone can be crass depending on the situation.

 

[armchairclimber]

Like I said, depends on the situation. Everyone can be crass depending on the situation.

That's form. class is permanent.

 

[hrotha]

If she also has a negative influence on her husband and his cycling performance, then the employer who pays out 2 millions in wages every year plus all the support, can rightly respond

Can people please stop simping for bosses

 

[hrotha]

"He pays you a salary as required by law so he should be allowed to trample on your dignity publicly whenever he likes". Uh huh

 

[Samamba]

Quite ironic for her to write "Son coureur payé une fortune doit aussi des comptes à son patron" while Gilbert himself cashed out hard at BMC for a couple of years.

Though to be fair they weren't together at that time.

They were together when he did the same at Lotto. What was it? 5M in 3 years time or something?

And Gilbert and Alaphilippe had something else in common. They both got a terrible injury which they had throuble coming back from

 

[frisenfruitig]

I'm not going to pretend Lefevere isn't a pompous ass but if it's true about Alaphilippe partying and drinking then I think he deserves to be called out on it. If you're paying a guy millions and he's out there drinking alcohol and not taking care of himself...

People already said he "likes to party and go wild" when he was still winning big races. If you're winning then you can basically get away with anything, but now that he can't he is getting shat on. And I suspect that just like with Sagan, the criticism is mostly valid.

 

[hrotha]

I'm not going to pretend Lefevere isn't a pompous ass but if it's true about Alaphilippe partying and drinking then I think he deserves to be called out on it. If you're paying a guy millions and he's out there drinking alcohol and not taking care of himself...

No. He can fire him if he thinks it is grounds for fair dismissal, he can decide not to extend his contract, he can call him out in private if it's affecting his performance, but he absolutely cannot divulge his private life

 

[CyclistAbi]

Maybe this is an opportunity in disguise. For PL and MR to join forces and to tame party animal?

We'll see.

 

[Rackham]

No. He can fire him if he thinks it is grounds for fair dismissal, he can decide not to extend his contract, he can call him out in private if it's affecting his performance, but he absolutely cannot divulge his private life

Well, he clearly can divulge that private life stuff... because he just did.

In a way this is a circular topic because we go right back to what I said yesterday, i.e. none of this matters. There's nothing "inadmissible" "unacceptable" "intolerable" here... because there's no one stopping Lefevere from saying whatever he wants.

I noticed some people on social media throwing around talk of defamation etc. but the legality is very sketchy & probably not a can of worms Alaphilippe & his people want to open.

In the end there's just a basic matter of sense, i.e. relating to the question "does throwing a rider under a bus work as motivation, or demoralization?" There's some José Mourinho modus operandi & school of thought in Patrick Lefevere's tactics, IMO.