Julian Alaphilippe on Patrick Lefevere’s words: ‘I don’t care’
Former world champion spoke about his boss, and chances at the Tour of Flanders
Julian Alaphilippe didn’t hold back Saturday when asked about some of his boss’s recent words in the press, on the eve of the Tour of Flanders.
In February, in an interview with Humo, Lefevere criticized his French rider. “I think there have been too many parties and too much alcohol at home,” the Belgian said. “Julian is under the control of Marion Rousse. I spoke to him in November. We were with Marion and his manager Dries Smets. I said, ‘It can’t go on like this. If you still do something wrong, I’ll fire you right away.’”
Marion Rousse responded
Rousse, a former professional cyclist and director of the Tour de France Femmes promptly responded to the Soudal Quick-Step boss.
“Whatever Mr. Lefevere’s feelings towards me, it is unacceptable to attack our private lives as he is doing. So no, I don’t drink alcohol, ever. We also didn’t during the holidays because with a three-year-old, we prefer to feel good in the morning. You will not succeed either, as you have already mentioned to me, in preventing me from working to keep myself busy and stay with Julian for the duration of his career,” her message began. “The work that I do continues to fascinate me, and I am busy with plenty of projects. From now on, please stop speaking wrongly and show respect and class.”
Focus on the race
As far as Alaphilippe is concerned, he is trying to ignore it all, but doesn’t like that his wife was involved.
“I really managed to detach myself from it as much as possible, like I often do,” Alaphilippe said on Saturday on French radio channel, RMC. “I was more annoyed about Marion, who didn’t ask for this and who doesn’t like being involved at all. She didn’t like being involved in things like that, which were pointless and made no sense. There are things are supposed to be personal, and it’s a bit annoying when it keeps coming out. However, for me, no, I’ve detached myself from it. In fact, I don’t care.”
The former world champion says that all he is concerned with now is doing the best he can on the bike.
“The only thing I can do is do my job well, and I’ve been doing it very well, as well as I can, for many years,” he said. “So long as I feel like that, I don’t care about the rest. What matters to me is that my son is in good health and that I do my job to the best of my ability.”
Lefevere doubles down
On Saturday, Lefevere reiterated his critique of Alaphilippe in a L’Équipe interview, stating that his initial Dutch remarks were misconstrued in translation.
“I don’t want to go back over this debacle. I just want people to understand that I too am shocked that I can’t say what I think. And not just about Julian,” said Lefevere. “The problem is that you French, like the English, you people do not take the trouble to translate what I say properly.”
Alaphilippe concluded his interview by saying he still hopes to win the Tour of Flanders. The race is on Sunday, and you can watch it on FloBikes.com
