This is the new business that is shaking up the world of cycling.
A skirmish between Patrick Lefevere, boss of the Soudal-Quick Step team, and his rider Julian Alaphilippe.
In the columns of the newspaper
Humo
, Lefevere said:
“Julian is a good guy.
But after signing his mega contract, we didn't see him anymore.
As you get older, you have to take care of yourself more, train harder.
I think there were too many parties and too much alcohol at his house.”
Before slipping:
“He is seriously under the spell of Marion (Rousse, his partner, consultant for France Télévisions and ex-professional cyclist, editor’s note).
May be too much."
Former professional runner converted consultant for
RMC
, Jérôme Pineau estimated this Thursday at the microphone of our colleagues that
“everything he (Patrick Lefevere) said, he did not pull it out of the hat, he knows what he is talking about”
.
And to continue:
“I think that Patrick was especially annoyed at no longer having the results he had before with Julian who is a runner who costs him dearly.
(…) He may have had echoes of the start of Julian’s season.”
Pineau knows Lefevere well having raced for five years under him at Quick Step (2009-2013).
“It’s Patrick Lefevere in the text, old-fashioned management.”
Read alsoCycling: “Unacceptable to attack our private lives as it does”, Marion Rousse responds to Patrick Lefevere
Gilbert's wife also tackles Marion Rousse
Jérôme Pineau, however, criticizes his former manager for
“clumsiness”
in terms of form, believing that Patrick Lefevere goes
“a little too far when he talks about Marion and their life as a couple”
and that he
“must not attack by way of presses his runner on his married life
.
Marion Rousse let her anger explode on social networks, saying that it is
“unacceptable to attack our private lives as he does.
So no, I don't drink alcohol, ever.
Missed for the holidays too because with a 3 year old we prefer to be in shape in the morning.
You will also not succeed, as you have already told me, in stopping me from working to keep myself busy and stay with Julian for the duration of his career.
The missions I carry out fascinate me and know that I have lots of projects.
But I tell you, under no circumstances will I allow you to talk about my private life.
Please now stop speaking out of turn and show more respect and… class.”
Read alsoCycling: “Deplorable”, rages the president of the riders’ union after Lefevere’s attacks against Alaphilippe
Bettina Gilbert, wife of ex-Belgian runner Philippe Gilbert, responded vehemently to Marion Rousse's publication:
“It's called the other side of the coin, Marion, and even then Patrick only displays a third of the behavior of your man.”
It is difficult to know the reasons which push her to harden her tone in this way, but she goes on to affirm that the France Télévision consultant
“spends [her] life speaking badly about people behind [her] microphone”
and has
“never been at the meet when it comes to taking responsibility”
, before concluding with an inspired proverb:
“You wanted to eat sheep and now you are shitting the wool.”