Patrick Lefevere has been strongly critical of his Soudal-QuickStep riders after their poor showing in E3 Saxo Classic (1.UWT) on Friday, calling it "a big nothing".
And while he said his team had signed riders recently towards better preparing for the Grand Tours, a significant part of the wages bill at the team still went to riders on big contracts because they were expected to perform in the classics and other big Belgian races.
He believed he had been too keen to offer new contracts to riders immediately after they had performed very well and was now regretting it, naming the riders currently on the team who he had been too quick to re-sign.
"Let's be honest: how we drove away as a team: simply painful. I saw us at the head of the peloton ninety kilometers from the finish and then: the big nothing," he said in his column in Het Nieuwsblad.
Advertisement
"Yves Lampaert was the first Soudal Quick-Step rider in twenty-ninth place, more than four minutes behind Mathieu van der Poel... that is far below par.
Related News
“I don't blame anyone for not being able to follow Mathieu van der Poel or Wout van Aert, who are hors catégorie, but even in the group behind them we are not participating.
"Lidl-Trek has clearly taken a step forward and is in the top ten with three riders. UAE Team Emirates has two men and none of them is called Tadej Pogacar. We have no one.”
Lefevere also said he had "made mistakes" in how he had signed riders, adding the team was now in the top tier of World Tour squads in terms of "nutrition, equipment and training", meaning the riders could not point to any shortcomings there.
"I read everywhere that we are reducing the spring team based on (a switch to Grand Tour focus) and that is absolutely true," he said. "But with riders like Julian Alaphilippe, Yves Lampaert and Kasper Asgreen, a significant part of the wage budget still goes to leaders for the Flemish work.
"The lesson for myself: no more entering into contracts amid euphoria, which may have happened too often with the riders mentioned. Whatever happens, I won't talk to anyone about contracts until after Paris-Roubaix."
