Soudal-QuickStep team manager Patrick Lefevere has denied suggestions that his Soudal-QuickStep team has been sold to an American investor for $16.5 million, insisting he is ready to complete his ‘Project Remco’ five-year plan, fight off offers from major rival teams and so help Remco Evenepoel try to win the Tour de France.
The future of the Soudal-QuickStep team, Evenepoel and Lefevere have become entwined in the last few months, each perhaps a factor in the future of the other. Evenepoel has the potential to take on Tadej Pogčar and Jonas Vingegaard in the 2024 Tour de France but Soudal-QuickStep need time and a bigger budget to compete against the super teams on equal terms.
Suggestions that Soudal-QuickStep was for sale first emerged in the In Het Wiel podcast. Lefevere left the Tour de France on Sunday but talked about the offers he has received for the team in the past and why he is not the one who will ultimately decide in a long interview with Bart Audoore of Flemish newspaper Het Laatste Nieuws, who suggested that an American investor had bought the team. Lefevere has since repeated some of his thoughts in subsequent interviews with GCN and again with Het Laatste Nieuws.
“There are always people asking how much the team would cost. They ask me, but I don't own it. Bakala bought the team in 2010. I have twenty per cent of the shares,” Lefevere said of Czech billionaire Zdeněk Bakala who owns the remaining 80% of the team.
"In recent years I've had five potential buyers, one was even a Belgian, a guy in his twenties who had become rich with bitcoins.
"€15 million but then what happens? That's three million for me and twelve million for Bakala. Do you think he needs that? He's really not interested.
Yet Lefevere revealed that Bakala could be interested in an outside capital investment.
“After the Tour of Flanders, he stayed in Belgium for a day and said: we have sponsors until 2027, a good portfolio of riders, if a prospective buyer comes along it might be good to have a listen. But Bakala doesn't need the money. He's more interested in someone who wants to buy some shares and so bring in millions. I can only watch on.”
Lefevere is 68 but in 2023 he committed to a five-year plan to build a team around Evenepoel. He secured Soudal and QuickStep as title sponsors, securing the long-term future of the team. He occasionally seems tired but is determined to complete his plans.
"Sometimes I don't like doing this anymore. I've also asked myself questions,” Lefevere admitted.
"I won’t chase money for myself at any cost. Imagine if I did everything to get that three million: that's no way to lead a team.
“I committed myself for five years. I signed Remco until the end of 2026, Soudal and Quick-Step wanted to participate until the end of 2027. Then either someone else comes, or I’m done.”
Lefevere revealed during the winter that Ineos Grenadiers had approached Evenepoel and his father, who acts as his agent. However, the three went out for dinner together and Evenepoel played down talk of a multi-million transfer.
Fighting off interest from Ineos, Lidl-Trek, Israel-Premier Tech and others
Ineos Grenadiers have always formally denied making a bid but would clearly be interested in signing Evenepoel as they rebuild their Grand Tour squad.
Ineos Grenadiers have reportedly offered Evenepoel €6 million a year as part of a three-year deal, while Evenepoel is set to earn €20 million plus bonuses in his current five-year deal.
It emerged during the Tour de France that other teams have also shown interest with Het Laatste Nieuws reporting that Lidl-Trek, Israel Premier Tech and Bora-Hansgrohe have contacted Evenepoel.
Lidl-Trek’s budget has increased significantly after the German supermarket came on board as a title sponsor, lifting the US-registered team into the top third of WorldTour team budgets. They have already secured the services of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Jonathan Milan for 2024. Bora and Hansgrohe have extended their sponsorships, while Israel Premier Tech owner and billionaire Sylvan Adams has the funds to make a bid for Evenepoel.
Lefevere tried to warn off his rival teams from making tempting offers to Evenepoel, explaining the huge financial and legal costs under Belgian employment law if Evenepoel tried to break his contract and join another team.
"What about his contract until the end of 2026? If the UCI plays fair, they (the rival teams) can't do anything,” Lefevere said.
“Whoever wants to buy Evenepoel must pay us his contract amount for each year plus so much for sponsors, who will not agree and can take legal action. I would not want to pay that bill..."
“It has to stop, but you can't stop it. It's unfair pressure from Ineos. Sky started (to court Evenepoel) before he was a professional and I beat them to him. It's as simple as that.
"But what can I do? Do I have to write a registered letter? Do I have to complain to the UCI that they are harassing Remco? And what if they deny it? Do I have to call them all liars?”
Lefevere has had assurances from Evenepoel that he wants to stay with Soudal-QuickStep.
“After his victory in Liège-Bastogne-Liège Remco said: ‘This team is my family. If it depends on me, I want to stay here all my life.’ There are external factors, of course, he has an entourage, and people work on him. I'm 68 years old, I'm not stupid."
Lefevere revealed he has surprisingly never spoken to Ineos Grenadiers team manager Rod Ellingworth directly but insisted he will never sell Evenepoel.
"I'm always going to say no. Selling a rider, I don't like that. They’re not like cars, are they?” he said.
“In other sports, it happens. Too bad they don't do that in cycling. If they did, I’d already be a multimillionaire and I wouldn’t need that three million anymore. Just look at all the talented riders who developed in our team: Pozzato, Cancellara, Evans, Eisel, Steegmans, Kwiatkowski, Mas, Almeida..."
Building Soudal-QuickStep for 2024
To keep Evenepoel happy, Lefevere knows he has to build a strong Grand Tour around him. However, the best mountain domestiques are not on the market for 2024 or cost a huge amount, with salary requests starting at around €1 million per season.
Fifteen riders are out of contract at Soudal-QuickStep for 2024 but Lefevere has already made some strategic decisions and extended some contracts. Fabio Jakobsen has confirmed he will leave and is set to join Team DSM-Firmenich. Soudal-QuickStep’s Tour de France team will be built around Evenepoel with no place for a sprinter.
Lefevere explained that Louis Vervaeke, Ilan Van Wilder, Fausto Masnada and Matteo Cattaneo should form the core of Evenepoel’s squad. Britain’s James Knox is also likely to extend his contract but other riders will be let go or replaced with younger riders.
"I'm working on the team for 2024. Everyone talks about the team's weakness but who were we inferior to in the Vuelta last year?" Lefevere asked, reminding that Soudal-QuickStep won the Vuelta a España in 2022.
"A million is no longer a million today. Soudal signed in 2021, for a good price but inflation was 14% last year. In Belgium, we also have to pay higher taxes and social contributions.
“I have to think carefully about what I do with my budget. Do we still need to win 70 races? I'm still working on one or two riders who will be top ten or top fifteen here in the Tour. If you ride top ten in the Tour, you're probably a good climber."
However, most riders in the current top 15 of the Tour de France appear out of Lefevere’s reach. Carlos Rodriguez is expected to join Movistar, while Intermarché Circus Wanty are convinced Louis Meintjes will stay with them.
The USA’s Matteo Jorgenson is expected to leave Movistar for Jumbo-Visma, while time trial world champion Tobias Foss has been linked to a move to Ineos Grenadiers. Pavel Sivakov is set to leave Ineos Grenadiers for UAE Team Emirates and Laurens De Plus who is friends of Evenepoel but will stay loyal to Ineos Grenadiers after two years of problems.
