Soudal-QuickStep have announced the appointment of a Chief Operating Officer, potentially as part of the team’s succession plan for CEO Patrick Lefevere’s eventual retirement.
Jurgen Foré, a partner at consulting firm Deloitte and son of 1963 Tour of Flanders winner Noël Foré, will join the team in January and assume some of Lefevere’s management responsibilities.
In an interview with Het Nieuwsblad last week to confirm the 25th anniversary of the team, Lefevere announced the imminent appointment of a COO. In a team statement on Thursday, it was revealed that the 53-year-old Foré had been handed the role.
Foré arrives weeks after the collapse of Jumbo-Visma’s attempted takeover of Soudal-QuickStep.
Soudal-QuickStep stated that Foré would “carry out the daily management of the organisation,” as well as assisting Lefevere in “determining an operating budget and with the search for sufficient funding from sponsors and other revenue opportunities.”
Foré’s duties also encompass oversight of the sports management of the team, including “taking decisions on race calendars, rider programs, and rider recruitment and retainment.”
“I am excited because for me it is things coming together – I was a cyclist up to the age of 23, where life made me make some other choices,” Foré said.
“I went for a different professional career, in consulting, which means that I can now combine my love for cycling with my professional experience. I am passionate about getting the best out of a team and organisation, and it all comes together in this role, which is a unique opportunity that excites me.”
Foré hails from a cycling family. His late father Noël won Paris-Roubaix in 1959 and then outsprinted Frans Melckenbeeck and Tom Simpson to win the Tour of Flanders four years later. He also took bronze at the 1959 World Championships in Zandvoort behind André Darrigade.
“I am delighted to have Jurgen on board,” Lefevere said.
“He is a man that has an impressive CV, that mixes both a love and knowledge of cycling, with business and executive acumen and experience. He will help to develop our team to be even more successful both as an organisation and a business, as well as sportingly, and I know everybody at Soudal Quick-Step is looking forward to working with him.”
In his interview with Het Nieuwsblad last week, Lefevere indicated that the appointment of the COO was the first step in planning for his own departure from the team.
“I always joke that 'with thirty riders per season, I can get one transfer wrong.' But I can’t do that with the role of successor,” he said. “But we have found someone who will start in a role as COO.”
In the same article, Ruben Desmet, CEO of the QuickStep company, insisted that the process of replacing Lefevere would be a gradual one.
“We don’t want Patrick to stop abruptly but we do ask that there is a plan for a successor: someone who can follow along and gradually take on more responsibility,” Desmet said. “It cannot suddenly go from zero to one hundred.”
Earlier this week, Soudal-QuickStep announced that Dries Devenyns would join the management staff in 2024 after spending twelve seasons as a rider on the team.
The 2024 roster will be formally presented in Calpe, Spain, on January 9, with Remco Evenepoel again leading the line. New signings in the 28-rider roster include Mikel Landa, Gianni Moscon and talented 20-year-old US rider Luke Lamperti.
