Lefevere rages at “that bastard from BORA” Ralph Denk and laments missing out on van der Poel: “Of course I want Mathieu!”

In the major classics, Soudal Quick-Step came up dry. “I’ll try to say this without stepping on too many toes. But it just wasn’t good,” Lefevere said on the Vals Plat podcast. “The results might look better on paper than what the team actually showed on the road. Tim kind of saved the spring for us with seven wins, and a very promising French kid finishes second at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad,” referring to Paul Magnier. Merlier took wins this spring, including the Scheldeprijs.

“But then you have three Monuments behind us. Flanders, Roubaix and Liège. And it was just miserable.” In Liège-Bastogne-Liège, all hopes rested on Remco Evenepoel, but he completely underperformed. “I think our best finisher was 36th or something,” he said, pointing to Vansevenant who actually finished 35th. “At Flanders, Lampaert came in 28th. No wait, 38th. And Roubaix was even worse,” though Lampaert placed 28th there. “It is what it is. I watched it with a heavy heart.” Casper Pedersen’s 26th place at Milan-San Remo was Soudal Quick-Step’s best Monument result this spring.

The results have been poor, but Lefevere believes his former team also needs to stay realistic. “You have to row with the oars you’ve got. We’re no longer in the top six when it comes to budget.” He points to the astronomical spending power of UAE Team Emirates XRG. “Fifty million or more. You can see it in their win tally. And by the way, a lot of those young guys they have over there were scouted by us. Matxin used to work for me as a talent scout. I brought him in at one point but forgot to mention one thing. He wasn’t supposed to take all the kids with him.”

Evenepoel still salvaged something from the spring with his win at the Brabantse Pijl and a strong showing in the Amstel Gold Race. But can Soudal Quick-Step actually hold on to their superstar? “Only God knows” his former boss laughs. “At least the team intends to let him finish his contract. Of course he’s been chased by almost everyone for four years now. Sometimes that really gets to me.”

INEOS Grenadiers and Red Bull BORA hansgrohe have both shown interest in the Olympic champion in the past, but it is especially the latter that gets blasted by Lefevere. He shares an anecdote about a meeting with the German. “That bastard from BORA, I have no other word for him, Ralph Denk. We were sitting at the Sheraton, the big conference room at Schiphol. Just the two of us. No drinks, nothing.”

The conversation was odd and Denk remained vague about his intentions. “I said, what is it you actually want? ‘We want to take over your team,’ he said. Do you really think I’d come work for you? The bottom line was, I had stood in Remco’s way for too long.”

Red Bull BORA hansgrohe clearly wanted Evenepoel badly and went behind Lefevere’s back to approach the rider directly. “In February there was a fat offer sitting on the desk of Remco’s father. It ended up coming to me. I flew to Tenerife and showed it to Remco. He told me, ‘I haven’t even seen it,’ threw it in the trash and gave me a hug.” Clear language from Evenepoel.

The world time trial champion is one of the biggest riders in the history of the team. But who is the one rider Lefevere would have loved to bring in but never managed to sign? “That’s an easy one for me. There’s only one. Mathieu van der Poel. His dad rode for me for a year and I’ve known him since he was a kid. But the Roodhooft brothers were smart. They let him race cyclocross and gave him everything he needed. He appreciated that and stuck with them. He’s still there. Signed for life.”

The relationship between the Roodhooft brothers and Van der Poel has always been solid. “There was never really any hope,” Lefevere says firmly. But he does share a story about a dinner with the team bosses of Alpecin Deceuninck. His pitch was clear. “What if we joined forces?” he asked. “Christophe was the more aggressive of the two. He said, ‘I know what you’re after. You want Mathieu.’ And I said, ‘Of course I want Mathieu. I think we could still teach him a thing or two, right?’ Honestly, the conversation was already over before I even brought it up.”