Patrick Lefevere warns Remco Evenepoel: 'Lying to journalists is dangerous'

Writing in his column for Het Nieuwsblad, the former Soudal Quick-Step boss criticised the way Evenepoel and his new team handled the days leading up to the announcement.

“I don’t want to be too harsh about it, but you have to be careful about lying to journalists,” Lefevere wrote. “I’ve never done it, and certainly not as blatantly as Evenepoel and his team have in recent months, weeks and even days. There used to be a kind of code of honour. Lying is dangerous. There are journalists with long memories and a thin skin.”

His comments follow a confusing build up in which reports of Evenepoel’s participation were initially denied before being confirmed shortly after, prompting criticism from journalists, including Daniel Benson, who publicly questioned the team’s handling of the situation.

The comments in Lefevere’s column add another layer to what had already become a public conversation between rider and former manager over Evenepoel’s long absence from Flanders.

Earlier this week, Lefevere claimed the decision had, in previous years, largely been the rider’s own. “I told him for years that he should ride Flanders, but back then he didn’t want to.”

Evenepoel offered a very different version. “That was always blocked,” he said, insisting he had pushed to include the race during his final seasons at Soudal Quick-Step.

Lefevere has since doubled down, while leaving some room for nuance. “I always thought he simply didn’t want to, but Remco assures me - even this week via a text message - that it was our coaches who put a veto on it. I’m not necessarily disputing that,” he wrote. “But let’s be clear: Remco had the final say within the team. If he had really wanted it, Milano-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders would have been on his programme.”

Despite the criticism, Patrick Lefevere made clear he welcomes Remco Evenepoel’s presence at the Tour of Flanders, even if he questions the narrative around it.

“I was a bit annoyed by the idea that this is suddenly some kind of career switch,” he wrote. “As if riding Flanders takes something away from his ambitions in the Tour. Those two are separate. Believe me: Evenepoel didn’t need the Volta a Catalunya to realise how difficult it will be to win the Tour against Pogačar and Vingegaard.”

Lefevere also pushed back against doubts over Evenepoel’s chances on the cobbles, insisting his former rider should not be written off.

“Without any doubt: yes,” he stated if Evenepoel can win. “I know him inside out by now. At the UAE Tour he was still one or two kilos too heavy, but those were gone in Catalunya. That was the sharp Remco who can win any race within his reach.”

At the same time, he remains realistic about the Belgian’s natural profile.

“Fighting for position and riding on cobbles will never be his speciality. Just because you ride up a wet Koppenberg on a recon doesn’t suddenly make you a specialist in the race.”