"It's not up to us to control the race" - Patrick Lefevere not concerned with other teams' collective superiority

Patrick Lefevere has issued his weekly column and talked about the Vuelta a Espana. The headline of this weekend is the start in Barcelona, and he's also reacted to the many comments about Soudal - Quick-Step's strengths in the final Grand Tour of the season.

“I expect our team to be competitive today. Of course we have Remco Evenepoel, but Mattia Cattaneo has also won a time trial this year. Sprinters are also always good team time trialists, so Casper Pedersen will not cut a bad figure either," Lefevere said of today's opening stage in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column. "For lightweights James Knox and Andrea Bagioli it will be fourteen long kilometers.”

The opening day will set small gaps, but the focus lays in the mountains. Whereas the likes of Jumbo-Visma, UAE Team Emirates and INEOS Grenadiers are heavily stacked for the tough days, the Belgian team is not and Ilan van Wilder who was expected to be Evenepoel's right-hand man is also not present. This could eventually become a very big problem when the riders reach some days where tactics can be at play.

“I read left and right some reservations about the strength of our team, but I don't understand that. The Flemish press apparently has a short memory: last year we were supposedly not armed to control the race, but we did it anyway," he argues back. "And apparently everyone has also forgotten that Jan Hirt finished sixth in the Giro last year. Mattia Cattaneo finished twelfth in the Tour two years ago. Then you are anything but a Sundayrider. James Knox was seventh in the final classification of Tirreno-Adriatico in 2020. It is not for nothing that we have now extended his contract again."

Lefevere will hope this trio will be able to step up to their game. Whilst several stages should be all about the final ascent where it won't be meaningful, the days with many ascents can see the other teams try to put Evenepoel under pressure. “If you really analyze our team, you can never say: oh, oh, oh. Besides, it's not up to us to control the race. There is a very wide list of favorites. Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard, but behind them also João Almeida and Juan Ayuso."

"Not to mention Geraint Thomas and Aleksandr Vlasov. For us that is only an advantage: there will always be someone who wants to close a gap. I suggest that we race for three weeks with José De Cauwer in mind: first eat someone else's plate.”