Soudal-QuickStep CEO Patrick Lefevere has issued a public statement apologising for disparaging comments he made towards women.
The 69-year-old Belgian was last month deemed to have breached the UCI's Code of Ethics and was handed a 20,000CHF fine by the sport's governing body, suspended on condition of a public apology and that he does not commit a similar breach "within the next three years." Lefevere has opted to publicly apologise.
"With this statement, I want to make clear that I accept the decision of the UCI Ethics Commission," Lefevere said in a statement published on the Soudal-QuickStep website but not on the team's social media platforms.
"I acknowledge that the sentences referred to can be perceived in a doubtful way. It was never my intention to harm anyone, and therefore I apologise.
"I apologise explicitly to the UCI, the UCI Ethics Commission, and to all persons concerned or who have perceived these statements in a harmful way."
Lefevere revealed that the UCI Ethics Commission decided that two statements violated the UCI's ethical code. One on July 3, 2021, in Het Nieuwsblad, and another in a TV interview on March 8th, 2023 in De Afspraak.
Lefevere has been outspoken on numerous other occasions in his weekly newspaper column for Het Nieuwsblad and in interviews but has claimed that his comments are misunderstood and badly translated.
One of his team's own riders, Julian Alaphilippe, has been a recent target of heavy criticism due to his poor form in recent seasons. The former world champion has battled crashes and injury but Lefevere's comments intimated that his performances may have been due to his lifestyle, and placed some of the blame at the feet of Alaphilippe's partner Marion Rousse.
Rousse, who is the director of the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift and a former French national road race champion, hit back at Lefevere's comments at the time.
"Under no circumstances will I allow you to talk about my private life. From now on, please stop talking out of turn and show a little more respect and... class," Rousse wrote on social media.
Lefevere manages the men's Soudal-QuickStep men's team, while the team's management company Decolef is also a minority shareholder in the women's AG Insurance-Soudal squad.
"The way our teams work should also offer proof that it was never my intention to offend or harm anybody," Lefevere added.
"Today we employ 74 riders and 106 full-time staff members, both men and women, in a diverse and inclusive work environment with no distinction in terms of origin, gender or background. In this way, we will continue our journey."
