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The Patrick Lefevere Depreciation Thread

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Agree with it being his MO. Evenepoel wins, it's part of the Lefevere grand plan, Evenepoel loses, it's Evenepoel's fault. Ditto with Alaphilippe: starts winning again, it's down to Lefevere, stays losing, he's lost it. It's all about Lefevere, really.

That said, this is also fairly standard schtick: you're being paid for what you're going to win, not for what you've won in the past. (The exception to this, of course, being teams like BMC or IPT which are just pension schemes for a certain class of rider.)

The TL/DR here? Nothing new to see, nothing new to complain about.
 
He's proverbially old school. It's entertaining, but callous nonetheless. I like it, but this way with Ala seems too much, as if alcohol got him all riled up for the interview.

Interestingly Remco seems to love Julian, so maybe he rides for him next Liege? That's a prospect, now isn't it?
 
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There are all sorts of people and people like Lefevere will speak their mind without any reservations. Hence best to take it as such. At least it's easy to understand what is on their mind. Lefevere feels Alaphilippe owes him something. And what does Lefevere feel Alaphilippe owes him? In my opinion it's rather obvious on what Lefevere is asking for. He is saying look Alaphilippe you need to be at your best. So far so good. But why. And here i feel the motivation is rather clear. Alaphilippe you need to be your best for Evenepoel. Now it's up to Alaphilippe to respond. And he can be as blunt as the other side. Almeida said no to such proposition and at that point i had a feeling Alaphilippe is next on the list. Now Alaphilippe could occasionally be OK with that. But what i fear is Lefevere now believes Alaphilippe needs to dom for Evenepoel on races such as La Flèche Wallonne. And this is likely unsustainable on the long run. Alaphilippe in my opinion needs to start looking for other options. The demands Lefevere is making are just unrealistic. And while doing that to still collect the paycheck.
 
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There are all sorts of people and people like Lefevere will speak their mind without any reservations. Hence best to take it as such. At least it's easy to understand what is on their mind. Lefevere feels Alaphilippe owes him something. And what does Lefevere feel Alaphilippe owes him? In my opinion it's rather obvious on what Lefevere is asking for. He is saying look Alaphilippe you need to be at your best. So far so good. But why. And here i feel the motivation is rather clear. Alaphilippe you need to be your best for Evenepoel. Now it's up to Alaphilippe to respond. And he can be as blunt as the other side. Almeida said no to such proposition and at that point i had a feeling Alaphilippe is next on the list. Now Alaphilippe could occasionally be OK with that. But what i fear is Lefevere now believes Alaphilippe needs to dom for Evenepoel on races such as La Flèche Wallonne. And this is likely unsustainable on the long run. Alaphilippe in my opinion needs to start looking for other options. The demands Lefevere is making are just unrealistic. And while doing that to still collect the paycheck.
Yes, it is a conundrum for the man. How does Ala give up his monument ambitions for Evenepoel? The thing is Patrick built up this Wolf Pack BS whilst he didn't have a super, super talent. Suddenly the Wolf Pack has become a Lion's Pride.
 
@Extinction

That is up to Alaphilippe now. He could be OK with it. Up to a point. Although he said he still wants to go for the Tour at some point. In this team i somehow doubt it. Anyway. In my opinion Lefevere isn't asking just in regards to GTs. All in all he is asking for too much. Nobody owes him that much. There needs to be some balance and some sense of keeping it real.
 
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@Extinction

That is up to Alaphilippe now. He could be OK with it. Up to a point. Although he said he still wants to go for the Tour at some point. In this team i somehow doubt it. Anyway. In my opinion Lefevere isn't asking just in regards to GTs. All in all he is asking for too much. Nobody owes him that much. There needs to be some balance and some sense of keeping it real.
The problem is Ala has been unseated at QS, so he needs to go to a French team or play second option in the monuments.

I say this fully aware of his calibre, but, unfortunately for him, a once in 30 years talent was born.
 
Yes, it is a conundrum for the man. How does Ala give up his monument ambitions for Evenepoel? The thing is Patrick built up this Wolf Pack BS whilst he didn't have a super, super talent. Suddenly the Wolf Pack has become a Lion's Pride.
I dont even think it was him who started the wolfpack thing, rather Brian Holm.
As cringe as it sounds, it works. I have heard multiple interviews/podcasts with riders saying that actually the Quickstep wolfpack thing is a big positive for results and camaraderie

Also, lets compare Patrick's results and budget against ANY TEAM. Pretty f$&#ing good.
 
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There are all sorts of people and people like Lefevere will speak their mind without any reservations. Hence best to take it as such. At least it's easy to understand what is on their mind. Lefevere feels Alaphilippe owes him something. And what does Lefevere feel Alaphilippe owes him? In my opinion it's rather obvious on what Lefevere is asking for. He is saying look Alaphilippe you need to be at your best. So far so good. But why. And here i feel the motivation is rather clear. Alaphilippe you need to be your best for Evenepoel. Now it's up to Alaphilippe to respond. And he can be as blunt as the other side. Almeida said no to such proposition and at that point i had a feeling Alaphilippe is next on the list. Now Alaphilippe could occasionally be OK with that. But what i fear is Lefevere now believes Alaphilippe needs to dom for Evenepoel on races such as La Flèche Wallonne. And this is likely unsustainable on the long run. Alaphilippe in my opinion needs to start looking for other options. The demands Lefevere is making are just unrealistic. And while doing that to still collect the paycheck.
I'm quite sure that is NOT what Lefevere means. On top of that, that was also not what was asked of Almeida. Lefevere actually went out of his way to state that Joao didn't have to follow Evenepoel's path and that he could build his own trajectory within the team. It may have started out like that early 2020, but after Almeida's Giro, that changed. Only when he lost over 4 minutes early in the 2021 Giro, did the team expect him to work for Evenepoel who was -at the time- still 2nd in GC. After Zoncolan, with Evenepoel dropping to 7th in GC, they said Almeida no longer had to concern him with Evenepoel.

I'm quite sure Lefevere still wants Alaphilippe to do his own thing. His racing style also complements that of Evenepoel who, in races they both compete at, will attack earlier, with Alaphilippe following wheels and trying to win from a reduced bunch.
 
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I dont even think it was him who started the wolfpack thing, rather Brian Holm.
As cringe as it sounds, it works. I have heard multiple interviews/podcasts with riders saying that actually the Quickstep wolfpack thing is a big positive for results and camaraderie

Also, lets compare Patrick's results and budget against ANY TEAM. Pretty f$&#ing good.
Granted, but you have not adressed the issue I brought up, which for Patrick is unchartered territory that not even Belgian beers can overcome. He needs Johan's advice.
 
I'm quite sure that is NOT what Lefevere means. On top of that, that was also not what was asked of Almeida. Lefevere actually went out of his way to state that Joao didn't have to follow Evenepoel's path and that he could build his own trajectory within the team. It may have started out like that early 2020, but after Almeida's Giro, that changed. Only when he lost over 4 minutes early in the 2021 Giro, did the team expect him to work for Evenepoel who was -at the time- still 2nd in GC. After Zoncolan, with Evenepoel dropping to 7th in GC, they said Almeida no longer had to concern him with Evenepoel.

I'm quite sure Lefevere still wants Alaphilippe to do his own thing. His racing style also complements that of Evenepoel who, in races they both compete at, will attack earlier, with Alaphilippe following wheels and trying to win from a reduced bunch.

Exactly. It's not like one has to help the other to be successful. And Quickstep worked the same approach you mentioned before countless times with Boonen: Pozzato at Msr, Devolder at Flanders (twice even) and Terpstra at Roubaix. It might actually be beneficial for Alaphilippe to have Remco go on the attack 60 or 50 kilometers from the finish. It will tire opponents out and definitely shed some domestiques. Sure, there will be cases where they don't catch him and Evenepoel wins solo but this strategy will also get Alaphilippe in better position to succeed.

And in the GTs I think being put in a helper role isn't even that big of a deal. What is he going to achieve on his own anyway? A stage win here or there is certainly not as worth as actually fighting for the overall victory.
 
Exactly. It's not like one has to help the other to be successful. And Quickstep worked the same approach you mentioned before countless times with Boonen: Pozzato at Msr, Devolder at Flanders (twice even) and Terpstra at Roubaix. It might actually be beneficial for Alaphilippe to have Remco go on the attack 60 or 50 kilometers from the finish. It will tire opponents out and definitely shed some domestiques. Sure, there will be cases where they don't catch him and Evenepoel wins solo but this strategy will also get Alaphilippe in better position to succeed.

And in the GTs I think being put in a helper role isn't even that big of a deal. What is he going to achieve on his own anyway? A stage win here or there is certainly not as worth as actually fighting for the overall victory.
In theory it sounds like it could be beneficial for Alaphilippe to have Evenepoel attack from afar, but in practice it looks like once he's gone, he's gone for good.
 
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@Logic-is-your-friend

I don't buy that. Currently Lefevere is in love with Evenepoel. Hence all the devotion goes in that direction. It started with Almeida and Alaphilippe is next in the line. That is Alaphilippe and his ambitions at the Tour are highly likely of secondary objective now. On top of that Remco will likely cut in Alaphilippe territory on a non GT races. We already seen that at Vuelta. Where Alaphilippe was burned early at the beginning of the climbs. To amplify Evenepoel ability and put other riders and teams in difficulty. He was super dom for Evenepoel from the start and had no other role or objective then that.

Anyway. We don't have to speculate all that much. Season 2023 is just around the corner. And it will become rather clear on what the future of Alaphilippe is in regards to this team and his own ambitions. Maybe a team such as Groupama-FDJ would be a better fit. If for any reason Lefevere will lose his judgement in regards to demanding too much. We'll see.
 
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@Logic-is-your-friend

I don't buy that. Currently Lefevere is in love with Evenepoel. Hence all the devotion goes in that direction. It started with Almeida and Alaphilippe is next in the line. That is Alaphilippe and his ambitions at the Tour are highly likely of secondary objective now. On top of that Remco will likely cut in Alaphilippe territory on a non GT races. We already seen that at Vuelta. Where Alaphilippe was burned early at the beginning of the climbs. To amplify Evenepoel ability and put other riders and teams in difficulty. He was super dom for Evenepoel from the start and had no other role or objective then that.

Anyway. We don't have to speculate all that much. Season 2023 is just around the corner. And it will become rather clear on what the future of Alaphilippe is in regards to this team and his own ambitions. Maybe a team such as Groupama-FDJ would be a better fit. If for any reason Lefevere will lose his judgement in regards to demanding too much. We'll see.
Ala was also used to help Cav in 2021 and rheee was no issues from the outside that we saw.
 
Ala was also used to help Cav in 2021 and rheee was no issues from the outside that we saw.

Ala used to do a lot of things indeed. And i feel that his personal ambitions are rather well known. As for what Lefevere is referring to when saying Ala needs to be in good shape in 2023. Going further and suggesting he owes him that.

Best to wait and see on how this expectations will get managed. And what exactly is at play. Maybe there is more to it. We'll see.
 
@Logic-is-your-friend

I don't buy that. Currently Lefevere is in love with Evenepoel. Hence all the devotion goes in that direction. It started with Almeida and Alaphilippe is next in the line. That is Alaphilippe and his ambitions at the Tour are highly likely of secondary objective now. On top of that Remco will likely cut in Alaphilippe territory on a non GT races. We already seen that at Vuelta. Where Alaphilippe was burned early at the beginning of the climbs. To amplify Evenepoel ability and put other riders and teams in difficulty. He was super dom for Evenepoel from the start and had no other role or objective then that.

Anyway. We don't have to speculate all that much. Season 2023 is just around the corner. And it will become rather clear on what the future of Alaphilippe is in regards to this team and his own ambitions. Maybe a team such as Groupama-FDJ would be a better fit. If for any reason Lefevere will lose his judgement in regards to demanding too much. We'll see.
Sorry, not following. What exactly started with Almeida? Lefevere said Almeida could follow his own path within the team. Friction came when Almeida didn't want to extend and his so called manager thought it was a good idea to start trolling Lefevere on social media.
 
Sorry, not following. What exactly started with Almeida? Lefevere said Almeida could follow his own path within the team. Friction came when Almeida didn't want to extend and his so called manager thought it was a good idea to start trolling Lefevere on social media.
Giro 2021 caused friction between Almeida and the team, because based on his previous year's ride in the race, he did not feel he should have been sacrificed for Evenepoel on the Tuscany sterate.
 

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