Patrick Lefevere has made a comical attempt at an apology for his shameful remarks comparing Sam Bennett’s move back to Bora-hansgrohe to women who go back to partners who subject them to domestic violence.
In his latest newspaper column in
Belgium, the Deceuninck-QuickStep team boss has apologised for the
references to domestic violence and its victims, saying he would choose his
words more carefully in the future.
But, in a reflection of his character, he has doubled
down on his criticism of Sam Bennett – whom he has previously said was the “height
of mental weakness”.
He has continued to point to some mental frailty on the part of Bennett, even though he then goes to say Bennett’s knee injury now needs surgery and will keep him out for the rest of the season.
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When Bennett was unable to ride the Tour,
due to injury, Lefevere questioned if he was really badly injured, suggesting
he was suffering from performance anxiety. He has persisted with that line of
criticism, focused on Bennett’s mental toughness, for well over a month.
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And today, though now revealing Bennett’s
injury is so bad it needs surgery, he has doubled down on the criticism of the
Irish rider’s mental durability.
He has said he will in the future stay
silent about Bennett, but can’t resist one last parting shot, saying he stands
over what he said before.
“Allow me to come back to my column
from last week. I'm not too big to admit that I've been over thinking my
statements about Sam Bennett,” he starts off in his latest column.
“My opinion of him remains the same,
but what I wrote about intimate partner violence – in the context of his return
to Bora – was not appropriate. Mea culpa.
“From now on I choose my words more
carefully in the whole discussion around Bennett and I prefer to remain silent.
A recent scan shows that he will require knee surgery, with a three to four
month rehabilitation period. He will therefore no longer race for our team.”
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