At Thursday's Soudal-Quickstep press conference ahead of the Opening Weekend of the Spring Classics, Patrick Lefevere faced the awkward situation he put himself in this week when he suggested Julian Alaphilippe's lifestyle was to blame for his difficult seasons.
Lefevere was harshly rebuked yesterday by Alaphilippe's partner Marion Rousse, who said his comments insinuating that Alaphilippe partied too much and drank too much alcohol were unacceptable.
With a dour-looking Alaphilippe sitting nearby, Lefevere never apologised for publicly humiliating his rider, instead claiming that the comments he made in a lengthy interview with Humo were misrepresented in translation.
"This interview was three hours, the passage about Julian was three minutes," Lefevere said. "As always, my Dutch is not always well understood, but maybe I made a mistake to speak about this. I [talked] about November 2022, and it's 2024 now. I understand there is not much news at the moment, so it's 'fressen' as we say in Dutch."
Lefevere sat down with Alaphilippe before the press conference, according to HLN.be, and tried to clear the air.
"I insisted on being here because the atmosphere was a bit tense anyway, and we don't need that," Lefevere said. "I can set all that aside, and I hope Julian himself can, too. 'Zand erover [no hard feelings],' I told him. Hopefully, he sees it that way. Tomorrow is a new day, and we won't talk about this again."
Lefevere said he regretted the commotion his statements caused.
"That was certainly not the intention. The interview lasted three hours, and it's not like we had already drunk three bottles of wine. Two or three glasses, no more," he joked before explaining his comments on Alaphilippe's alcohol consumption.
"I mentioned that I spoke with Julian, his manager Dries Smets and Marion Rousse in November 2022. I said that he had to do better and that he had to work hard, and Julian did that too," Lefevere said.
"It was not my intention at all to offend him, but the press jumped on it, his wife then started to react, and as a result, it also spread in France. Completely unnecessary, of course. But at the same time, I realize that perhaps I should have phrased it differently."
Alaphilippe is at the end of his contract in 2024. After finishing sixth overall at the Tour Down Under, the 31-year-old is gearing up for his Spring Classics campaign, which begins during Opening Weekend at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad.
His schedule includes Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, the E3 Classic, Dwars door Vlaanderen and the Tour of Flanders before racing the Giro d'Italia.
