Patrick Lefevere has disputed Julian Alaphilippe's version of a "frank" conversation they had during the winter, with the team manager now saying he definitely raised the prospect of the French rider leaving his Soudal-QuickStep team, even though he has two years still to run on his contract.
Lefevere has also said while Alaphilippe had been unlucky with crashes last year, for several seasons now the former world champion had performed below expectations. Team boss Lefevere said he expected more from Alaphilippe when he brought him into the team and signed his last big salary contract. He added team managers should consider cutting riders' salaries, possibly to zero, when they are injured for a long time; a threat he made when Sam Bennett was in his team but was unable to race in 2021 due to a knee injury.
Advertisement
"I understand his illnesses and falls, but you can't keep hiding behind that. It was the cool truth," Lefevere said of speaking to Alaphilippe in the off-season. "Everyone knows that I do not attack injured riders, but if there is a high price tag attached to it, then I can respond. Last year he won two times, the years before three and four times. I didn't take him into the team for that."
Speaking during a live interview with Karl Vannieuwkerke during the Velofollies cycling expo in Belgium, Lefevere disputed Alaphilippe's recent account of their conversation during the winter. Last week Lefevere said he had raised the prospect that Alaphilippe may want to leave the team; that he “would be allowed to leave” if he was “tired of the environment”.
Related News
Days later, Alaphilippe told L’Equipe the question of "changing horizons" never arose, adding Lefevere "never said such things to my face". However, in his Velofollies interview, Lefevere disputed that account of their conversation, insisting he did raise the idea of the rider leaving and did so with other witnesses present.
"He says we didn't have that conversation, I say we did. His wife and his manager were there. I told him I was not happy at all," Lefevere has now said.
Speaking generally about big salary riders crashing, Lefevere pointed out team managers were entitled to halve the riders' payments if they were three months out of racing action, adding payments could be reduced to zero after six months.
He said while he had never reduced a salary in that manner, managers should at least consider doing it sometimes, especially with expensive riders. He made his comments discussing both Alaphilippe - who crashed at both Liège-Bastogne-Liège and La Vuelta last year - and Kasper Asgreen, whose season ended after he abandoned the Tour de France before stage 9.
Lefevere said he had selected Asgreen for the Tour even though he had crashed badly in Tour de Suisse. However, he said he then took Asgreen out of the Tour after eight stages because his condition was such he could not be allowed to continue as "the muscle mass was gone" from one of his legs.
