Patrick Lefevere expresses full confidence in his team for the start of the Vuelta a España. In his regular column in Het Nieuwsblad, the Belgian sports director voiced the opinion that the Soudal QuickStep team should not adopt an attitude of absolute control over the race.
He shares a unique suggestion, likening it to an approach proposed by renowned commentator José De Cauwer: “I propose that we approach the next three weeks with a mindset similar to José De Cauwer’s: first, eat someone else’s dish.”
Lefevere starts by mentioning something about the team time trial, something that Lefevere is not a fan of. “I hope our team is competitive today. Of course, we have Remco Evenepoel, but Mattia Cattaneo also won a time trial this year.”
Sprinters are also always good in this short team time trial, so Casper Pedersen won’t be a bad figure either. For the lightweight riders, James Knox and Andrea Bagioli, it’s just fourteen kilometers.
After Lefevere indicated that Bagioli will indeed be the replacement for Mauri Vansevenant, who was not yet in shape after a fall, he comments on doubts about the team’s strength. “I’ve read here and there some reservations about the strength of our team, but I don’t understand that. The Belgian press apparently has a short memory: last year we were supposedly not prepared to control the race, but we still won,” concludes the boss of Soudal Quickstep.