"Lying is dangerous" - Patrick Lefevere warns Remco Evenepoel as media storm around Tour of Flanders debut continues

Patrick Lefevere has escalated the growing tension around Remco Evenepoel’s long awaited Tour of Flanders debut, questioning how the announcement was handled and warning of the consequences of misleading the media.

Writing in his column for Het Nieuwsblad, the former Soudal - Quick-Step manager took aim at the communication from Evenepoel and his new team, Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe, in the days leading up to the confirmation.

“I don’t want to be too harsh about it, but you have to be careful about lying to journalists. I’ve never done it, and certainly not as blatantly as Evenepoel and his team have in recent months, weeks and even days. There used to be a kind of code of honour that you didn’t deceive each other too much. Lying is dangerous. There are journalists with long memories and a thin skin.”

Those remarks land in the wake of a confused buildup to the announcement, where reports of Evenepoel’s participation were dismissed by the team before being confirmed just hours later. The episode drew a pointed reaction from journalist Daniel Benson, who criticised the handling directly. “Yeah, not sure why someone from the team management had to flat-out tell me something that wasn’t true this morning. Not appreciated. Just say no comment,” the respected reporter reacted on social media.

That moment has fed into a broader narrative that has quickly developed into a public disagreement over Evenepoel’s relationship with Flanders itself, and why it has taken until 2026 for him to appear at the race.

Earlier this week, Lefevere suggested the absence had been down to Evenepoel’s own reluctance during his time at Soudal - Quick-Step. “I told him for years that he should ride Flanders, but back then he didn’t want to.”

Evenepoel has pushed back on that version of events, offering a direct contradiction. “That was always blocked.”

Lefevere has now responded again, insisting the situation was not so clear-cut. “I always thought he simply didn’t want to, but Remco assures me – even this week by text message – that it was our coaches who put a veto on it. I’m not necessarily disputing that, but let’s be clear: in those years, Remco had the final say within the team. If he had really wanted it, Milano-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders would have been on his programme.”

The exchange has shifted what might have been a straightforward debut into a more layered story, where the focus has moved beyond the race itself to how it has been framed in the days leading up to it.

Amid the criticism, Lefevere has also been clear that Evenepoel’s presence in the race is not without merit, even if it comes without the same grounding on the cobbles as some of his rivals. “Fighting for position and riding on cobbles will never be his speciality. Just because you ride up a wet Koppenberg on a recon doesn’t suddenly make you a specialist in the race.”

Yet he also pointed to the possibility of a different kind of race scenario, one that could suit Evenepoel far more than a traditional, tightly controlled edition. “But there are also scenarios where the Tour of Flanders is not a race about positioning and fighting for space. Who still remembers how Philippe Gilbert won? As a team, we set up a move that turned it into a natural selection almost from the start. In that kind of Tour of Flanders, Evenepoel is always in contention.”

With the race approaching, the debate around Evenepoel’s participation has already taken on a life of its own. Lefevere’s warning adds another layer, ensuring that attention will remain as much on the narrative around the start line as on what unfolds once the racing begins.