Patrick Lefevere finally responded on Saturday to Remco Evenepoel’s transfer to Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe. On the day the transfer news broke, he wrote "Please don’t call me" on social media, but in his regular column in Het Nieuwsblad, the former Soudal Quick-Step team boss shares his opinion. "Contractually, I can’t say much about it," he says. "That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to say what I think about Remco’s departure."
"In summary: no hard feelings. That’s just how life goes. The kid is 25 years old, and if he can earn a few million more somewhere else, then he should do that. For me, he’s not staying. Financially, we simply can’t compete with the UAE teams and Red Bulls of this world," Lefevere said in the Flemish newspaper. "Of course, I was aware of what was going to happen. The news didn’t surprise me."
"Would this have happened if I were still in charge of the team? It would be very arrogant to answer no," the former team boss writes. "This was already underway while I still held the reins. There has always been interest in Remco, but we were always able to reassure him. Only after he won the Vuelta a España and became world champion in Wollongong did they really start hunting him."
Lefevere again points to financial resources when looking for a reason behind Evenepoel’s departure. "We have never truly been among the top financially. Through hard work, we have achieved miracles over the years with the budget we had. But at a certain point, you feel you have to let go. The question we now have to ask ourselves is: where does Soudal Quick-Step go from here? Jurgen Foré is convinced we can become what we once were again. And that includes the Grand Tours."
According to Lefevere, the new "Remco" won't simply return to Soudal Quick-Step. Ideally, he wants that rider to come from their own development team. "The list of riders from our Klein Constantia development squad is long," he points to riders like Julian Alaphilippe, Enric Mas, and Max Schachmann. "We’re quite proud of that. And it costs less than signing a rider externally. Although I’m also realistic: we probably won’t develop someone who ends up on the final podium of the Tour de France. I’d like to be wrong, but I fear that."
