The Quickstep-Alpha Vinyl team principal questions the authenticity of Wout’s injury ahead of Belgian National Championships
It’s no secret that Partick Lefevere is one of, if not the most out spoken person of power in professional cycling. If Patrick’s got a bone to pick, you better believe he’s going to reach for it, and he has shown that he has little to no fear of any media backlash. In his latest appearance in Belgian newspapers, Lefevere was critical of Jumbo Visma and Wout Van Aert’s decision and reasoning to not race the Belgian championships.
Lefevere alluded to the idea that Wout’s knee injury was potentially not the reason that the Belgian rider decided to skip national championships, and that it may have been a plan from the Jumbo-Visma team. Lefevere also referenced that Primoz Roglic, their team principal at the Tour de France opted not to race the Slovenian championships, and suggested that this may be more than a co-inscidence.
Lefevere also went on to suggest that it would be better for Jumbo-Visma to apply some transparency to their strategy, and if they didn’t want their riders to race their respective national championships ahead of their biggest team objective of the season, the Tour de France, that they should just say so and not “make up” reasons to not attend.
Often times, a small injury like this at a strategic time can be advantageous for riders because they are able to take a TSU which will allow them to use things like cortisone or other powerful drugs ahead of competition, giving them a performance boost. Of course, we’re not implying that this is happening here, but it does happen in pro cycling.
It will be interesting to see how the Jumbo-Visma riders start the Tour, and how they are in the final week.