Patrick Lefevere explains Mikel Landa-Mattia Cattaneo controversy at La Vuelta: "The result was a shit show"
Cycling
Patrick Levefere, the boss of Soudal Quick-Step, has spoken about what happened in the Vuelta a España with his team on the climb to Puerto Herrera in which Mikel Landa was dropped and Mattia Cattaneo was pulled back from the breakaway in a very controversial decision.
In his column in Het Nieuwsblad, he was clear as ever: "I saw how things tactically went completely wrong for our team. We had three men in front, while Mikel Landa behind had a bad day. The logical course of action is to let the men in front drop back to save the classification of the leader behind, but that took too long." First Casper Pedersen dropped back but was several minutes in the red jersey group before dropping back to Landa. Then, after the Basque was losing minutes, Mattia Cattaneo was pulled back with only 13 kilometers to go at a time where his presence would make very little difference.
He gave the keys to what happened, describing it with sincere words: "Why? The stage went through the Izki Natural Park, where there is no network. Sport director Wilfried Peeters had no pictures in the car in front of the lead group and couldn't even call Iljo Keisse and Geert Van Bondt. Furthermore, the lead group and the peloton were too far apart, which resulted in the radios not working. The result was a shit show."
He acknowledged that stopping Cattaneo was a mistake: "Mattia Cattaneo had the chance to win the stage in the lead, but he was told to wait. He literally stood still for eight minutes and could have smoked two cigarettes, so to speak; finally arriving next to Landa at a time when nothing could be fixed anymore."
And he ended up giving the UCI a slap on the wrist, understanding the problems that the team management faced in that chaotic moment.
"Ijo Keisse doesn't call often, but now he did. 'It sounded ridiculous, Patrick. I didn't sleep at all.' I assured Iljo: the problem is not with the team leaders. The problem is in cycling, where the relevant authorities want our team leaders to navigate blindly. How Formula 1 embraces technology and how we reject it: it's painful to watch," he concluded.
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- He should have been allowed to go to Movistar. Right now both arent a good fit for each other and are just wasting each other's time and effortabstractengineer08-11-2026
- Thibau Nys does exactly what Iserbyt is calling for
Rafionain-Glas08-11-2026 - i did not see it. was the relegation justified or an overly hard decision? and don‘t cross riders deviate from straight lines all the time? bumping into each others when they cut corners, etc … why being more strict with the rules on the finish sprint?Ketterechts08-11-2026
- seems like we are advertising the website with pointless comments…Ketterechts08-11-2026
- So?Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- The UCI do have their favorites.
Front24208-11-2026 - On a positive note, you maybe notice turning this topic into a discussion has the benefit of eliminating certain participants who do not see how they can turn it back to their sole interest ;-)Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- People see what they want to. I am actually the opposite of your accusation, probably more of a rebel than most of you who don’t get the big picture. The difference is, I don’t go moaning publicly about the consequences of my transgressions, I understand the need for rules and I take my OWN responsibility when deciding to ignore or break them or doing so involuntarily. I will also not hesitate to state my case or argue vehemently when relevant, sometimes it works, sometimes it makes things worse but that’s the price to pay for principles and having character.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- That may be but that was unknown to others and nothing says that’s the whole truth. Again, don’t try to misinterpret, it is a call and technically it is correct. Besides, even if there is a valid reason, that does not disqualify the ruling or punishment as far as the rules have been developed. I don’t think they’re as far as in football where for handball there is a distinction (in some ways and specific cases) between intentional or not. And football can be just as harsh and people live with it, eg the offside rule, also judged to within tiny fractions but often wrong or ignored. It’s the nature of every collective organisation and sometimes I wonder if our rebellion against it isn’t seated in the feelings we carry from the injustices we’ve felt personally, like being flashed driving 1km/h too fast when we are explained limits are just a security measure but we are absolutely certain not to have endangered anyone with our transgression. The problem is, nobody has better solutions and no 2 people have the same interpretation of where a limit should be.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
- Because for you deviated implies the other rider MUST have been made to fall and fail to finish ??? I don’t know if you ride a bike but next time someone carves you up or drives dangerously close, just hold back from those feelings of changing something, reporting or filming or even complaining. Everyone will just say, hey you’re still here undamaged, doesn’t seem like anyone did anything.Jumpyjohn08-11-2026
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"WAY too little, WAY too late!" "Totally crazy!" "He's not happy!" The commentary team are baffled as Mattia Cattaneo is called back from the break by the Soudal–Quick-Step directors to help team-mate Mikel Landa 😤
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