Lefevere isn't a fan of the secretive Evenepoel: “You have to be careful about telling lies to journalists”

The announcement that Remco Evenepoel will compete in the Tour of Flanders after all has caused quite a stir in Belgium. The country is in an uproar, and the Belgian rider from Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe has been preparing for some time. Patrick Lefevere, former team manager of Soudal Quick-Step, is, however, unhappy with the way his former team leader kept it a secret.

Evenepoel long and firmly denied that he would compete in the Tour of Flanders, but on Wednesday, April 1 of all days, he finally gave the green light. As a young talent, he hated the cobblestones, but his love for them grew steadily. With his victory in the Brabantse Pijl, he already demonstrated his strength on the cobbled climbs. Now he will test it at the highest level.

According to Evenepoel, the fact that it’s only happening this year isn’t his fault. In Friday's press conference, he said he’d wanted to participate for three years. “That was always blocked. This year, I said during the discussions: either the Giro or the Tour of Flanders. When I knew the Giro wasn’t an option, Flanders was on my schedule.”

Whether that is true is debatable. Lefevere previously stated that he would have liked to have the two-time Olympic champion on the team, but that he wasn’t ready at the time. “It’s no secret that I’ve already tried to persuade him during his last two seasons with us to start in Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders,” he writes in his column for Het Nieuwsblad.

Evenepoel also had special status within the team. ‘I always thought he didn’t want to himself, but Remco assures me—even as recently as this week via text message—that it was our coaches who vetoed it. I’m not necessarily disputing that, but let’s be honest: Remco had the final say within the team back then. If he had really wanted to, Milan-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders would have been on his schedule.’

Lefevere isn’t impressed by the way his former protégé kept his participation in the Tour of Flanders a secret. “You have to be careful about lying to journalists,” he writes in his column for Het Nieuwsblad. “I’ve never done it, and certainly not as blatantly as Evenepoel and company have in recent months, weeks, and even days.”

That said, the former team manager is glad he's finally getting the start. But: ‘I was a bit annoyed by the idea that he's suddenly making a career switch. As if his participation in the Tour of Catalonia somehow detracts from his general classification ambitions in the Tour de France. Those two are separate.’ Believe me: Evenepoel didn’t need the Tour of Catalonia to realize that it will be difficult to win the Tour against Pogacar and Vingegaard.”

So can he actually win the Tour against the nearly unbeatable world champion? 'Without reservation: yes. I know him inside out by now. In the UAE Tour, he was still a kilo or two too heavy, but those were gone in Catalonia. That was the dazzling Remco who has every race within his reach. Climbing and cobblestones will never be his specialty. Just because you ride up a wet Koppenberg during a reconnaissance ride doesn’t mean you’re suddenly a specialist in the race as well.”