Also, the audacity to create this thread with such a name! Blasphemous towards Patrick.
-
The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to
In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.
Thanks!
If/as Remco wins this Vuelta, it's a huge crown jewel for the gm career of Lefevere.
Which makes me realize; isn't Remco more like a grandson than a son? He's soon to be 70 years old or something? :O
He shouldn't say such things out loud. Especially when it's blatantly obvious to everyone that Alaphilippe probably had the most unlucky year a rider could conceivably imagine (with getting invalidated or worse, granted).
Why should he not? Ultimately, this thing is a business. Riders of his calibre are paid to win races and Alain Philippe hasn't done much of it for QuickStep since Imola 2020. He won the world title and got paid accordingly, but is yet to race like a world champion. That there is context to every result and it's not as black and white as good or bad is something Lefevere acknowledged and said in the same conversation where you got the initial quote from.
Whatever your personal opinion of Lefevere is, there is no one that does it better than him.
Imola counts as a result for QuickStep but Leuven does not?
Two times he was sprinting for the win in LBL after Imola, he won Flèche Wallonne after Imola, he won a stage in the Tour and got a day in yellow after Imola, he was second to MvdP in Strade after Imola, he was in the final selection once and the quasi-final selection once in De Ronde after Imola.
Okay, maybe that didn't turn out to wins but it's not like he didn't have the level before 2022 where everything went to shít.
You do know he won the WC again in 2021, right?
Excluding that, he has six other wins as well after Imola.
Neither result count as a result for QuickStep, why? I simply took Imola as a reference slash cutoff point. His production over the last two seasons simply hasn't been good enough, winning no less than six races in QuickStep colours. Why shouldn't Lefevere be allowed to say that?
Because it's so insensitive like he always is. And because it's evident that bad luck was responsible for his disastrous season this year.
Is it true? Perhaps, but there's no reason to always behave like an elephant in a China shop.
It's likely part of a bigger goal Lefevere has. To transform Alaphilippe into Evenepoel super dom on GT races (and beyond). Hence i could imagine that Alaphilippe is likely doing Giro 2023. Now Alaphilippe has to determine if he is OK with that or not. And to act accordingly. Considering Lefevere feels the need to go after Alaphilippe publicly. As he already started in 2022 season. Likely there is resistance.
No, you find it insensitive. Alain Philippe might be a person who needs directness and strives from it. In the same conversation Lefevere acknowledged his bad luck, but with the footnote that at some point bad luck becomes a habit and the blind eye for it fades. Shocker.
This should be a private issue between the two involved, not one going public at the other's expense. I agree the guy is good at what he does, but it really is poor conduct. And he's got a habit of it with others too. It's simply demeaning and treats the riders like chattle.
Poor choice of words but likely just said to put the fire back in Ala. As one of the bigger stars on the team he should have pressure on his shoulders to perform, and I am sure he is used to that. He has proved himself to be a champion. He will likely take such comments on the chin and put in the work to bounce back this year, if he dont then maybe he simply does not have it anymore but we will see.
That's another way of looking at it and perhaps that's how Ala sees It too. After all he knows Patrick by now.
Maybe it's a dig at Ala to get him pi$$ed off so he looks elsewhere to ride, giving PL more money to spend from Ala's salary on decent climbing doms for RE. He is a bit of a snake, maybe even a clever one.
No, I think that is too farfetched and just a conspiracy.
I think it is more Lefevere giving Ala a challenge to start showing he can still win some big races.
Ala can either sulk about it and fade away, or take it as motivation to bounce back. Up to him.
He still has two years left on his contract, so Lefevere wants him to make results for his team. That is what he is paying him to do. It is nothing personal.
Ala is a champion and it should be a win-win situation for both that he performs, while he still is at the team.
This is simply his MO. He does it to stimulate his riders. Whether it's the best way and socially acceptable is a different matter. It's no different than when he called Evenepoel too fat, and he has made similar statements about Lampaert not living up to his wages and i'm sure dozens of others.
TRENDING THREADS
-
-
Paris - Roubaix 2024, one day monument, April 7- Started by Dreginald
- Replies: 2K
-
-
-
Tour of the Alps 2024 (April 15 - 19)- Started by Devil's Elbow
- Replies: 277
-
Volta Ciclista a Catalunya 2024 (March 18-24)- Started by Devil's Elbow
- Replies: 2K
-
De Ronde van Vlaanderen (270.8 km), 2024 March 31 (Sunday)- Started by Netserk
- Replies: 1K
Latest posts
-
-
-
-
Liege Bastogne Liege-7 hour monument, Sunday, April 21, 2024- Latest: Krzysztof_O
-
-
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram