Lefevere on Jakobsen, Cavendish selections: "I don't have to justify myself"

Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl Team's Tour de France selection was one that launched many surprises and questions, and one of those was the non-selection of Mark Cavendish even after Tim Declercq couldn't start due to a Covid-19 infection. 

"I'm an old, wise man and the winner is always right, so for the moment I am right. I don't have to justify myself to some people who are maybe not smart enough to understand some things," Lefevere told Cyclingnews. "We took a decision with our hands on our hearts. Mark knew it already from January. This week we called him, he was very clean and said 'Patrick, I will be ready if you need me'. But we didn't need him," he explained. 

With Fabio Jakobsen set to make his Tour de France debut this year it was always going to be a complicated challenge for the Manxman to fit in the team, however there was hope until the very last day specially after his win in the national championships. However with sights on the green jersey, stage wins and team chemistry, the Dutchman was given total leadership in the flat stages.

"It's not an easy one to leave at home the British champion, the French champion, and the world champion, but we are here and we are winning, and the rest is history," he said - although Florian Sénéchal made the selection finally. With two stages and two wins, it's safe to say the Belgian team is on a roll and being the dominant team in the race until the time being.

Lefevere believes all the focus given to that story has a reason behind: "People have to sell newspapers, but I don't care what they write about me. I'm old and I have very thick skin. I'm here, they win, and all the rest is history. I don't want to answer to all those people. What do they know about cycling? I am 40 years here," he concluded.