Patrick Lefevere has dismissed the idea of Deceuninck-QuickStep setting up a women’s team, saying his WorldTour squad was not a social welfare office.
In a podcast interview with Het Laatste Nieuws he also claimed the controversy around his dispute with Sam Bennett overshadowed the team when it had enjoyed such surprising success with Mark Cavendish.
“How is he? I wouldn't know,"
said Lefevere when asked about Bennett. “I haven't seen him since the
pre-season. Then there was that whole cinema with his injury, after which I
sent him a WhatsApp message.
“He then said he would call after his
training, but that call has yet to come. The issue is heavy on my stomach, yes.
We won four stages with Cavendish in the Tour, which was a miracle and then we
got questions about Bennett. That was not fun."
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When asked if Deceuninck-QuickStep would set up a women’s team, Lefevere bemoaned
the poor level attained by female riders in Belgium. He suggested they would
need to become cyclists before he would consider setting up a team and paying
them.
In remarks that revealed how little he knows about women’s cycling, he named some races where he incorrectly claimed Belgian women couldn’t even stay in the reduced peloton.
“If a group of 50 rides away in De Panne
and there are (no Belgian women) there... With all due respect, but I'm not the
OCMW either, hey," he said - the OCMW being Belgium’s network of social
welfare offices.
The race he was
referring to was Brugge-De Panne. Far from no Belgian women being able
to hold their own the front group of 50, there were six Belgian women in the
top 50 including Jolien d'Hoore (SD
Worx) who finished 3rd and Lotte
Kopecky (Liv Racing) who took 4th place.
"What should you start with? You first have to
convince those women to become cyclists,” Lefevere said of the notion of
starting a women’s team. “I also don't have the experience, time, money or
desire to invest if I don't know where I will end up.”
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