Evenepoel broke the news to teammates himself, Lefevere responds: "People remember that, but I forgive him"

Lefevere has not been CEO of Soudal-Quick Step for several months, but when something important comes along, the experienced veteran is happy to give his opinion. This was also the case when, shortly after Evenepoel's transfer, he indicated that he would prefer not to say anything. “Of course, I can't pretend that nothing happened this week regarding Remco, but I repeat: contractually, I can't say much about it,” he wrote in his column in Het Nieuwsblad.

Lefevere had his hands full in recent years with teams wanting to sign Evenepoel, but now Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has succeeded. He says, "No hard feelings. That's life. The guy is 25 years old, and if he can earn a few million more somewhere else, then he should do it. He's not going to stay for my sake. Financially, we can no longer compete with the UAEs and Red Bulls of this world."

Although Soudal-Quick Step had been trying to build a GC team around Evenepoel in recent years, Lefevere already knew that a transfer was in the air. 2Of course, I was aware of what was going to happen. The news didn't surprise me. It's like in a relationship: when it's over, it's over. You just feel it. Would this have happened if I were still at the helm of the team? It would be very arrogant to say no. This was already underway when I was still in charge."

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“Remco said a few times that he would never leave us. People remember that, but I forgive him. You say things like that when you're emotional,” concluded Lefevere, who was replaced by Lampaert in Het Nieuwsblad. The 34-year-old veteran recently extended his contract and is now seeing his prominent leader leave. "Understanding is a big word because we don't know what was going on with Remco. It all happened a bit over our heads."

“But anyway, he has made his choice. As a team, we owe a lot to Remco and vice versa, so I hope we can part as friends,” said Lampaert. Evenepoel did inform his teammates of his decision himself. However, he never spoke to his experienced teammate personally. “Not really, no. Maybe because I'm a different type of rider and because I see things a little differently than he does.”

Evenepoel's message to the team came “an hour before the press release was issued.” "We had a meeting. You hear most things through the media or via radio peloton. You don't know what's true; the rumors have been going around for years, but I'm not shocked anymore. Remco himself sent a message to our general WhatsApp group saying that he was leaving and thanking everyone. He hasn't spoken to the group yet, but it's obviously a lot for him to take in at the moment."