Patrick Lefevere comes to the defense of Soudal-Quick-Step - "February has been a very good month for us"

The classics were completely dominated by Soudal-Quick-Step last season, but this year things have not been the same and doubts are starting to surface regarding the quality of their classic team. However, Patrick Lefevere was swift to come to the team's defense and even claimed that their performance was far from poor, with ten victories under their belt so far.

He writes in his Het Nieuwsblad column, "It didn't work out in the Flemish races last week, but February has been a very good month for us. Ten victories in total and actually twelve if you count – as I do – Rwanda.”

He further added, “Mauri Vansevenant can win races again and newcomers Casper Pedersen and Tim Merlier are there immediately. Those who look beyond the Flemish race will see that Soudal-Quick-Step certainly did not miss its start.”

He defends his team's performance at Le Samyn. “Our race balance: Stan Van Tricht crashed, Fabio Jakobsen crashed, Martin Svrcek crashed, Kasper Asgreen crashed twice and punctured in the last kilometer. Kasper may be chasing his form a bit impetuously at the moment, but how much bad luck can you have? We had five broken frames in Le Samyn. Five, of which two for Asgreen. With our starting fee of 3500 euros, we will certainly not be able to cover the costs.”

The upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice races are the next big events in which Soudal-Quick-Step hopes to achieve some notable outcomes. Bert Van Lerberghe has been designated as the lead-out for Fabio Jakobsen at the upcoming Tirreno-Adriatico, while Florian Sénéchal and Yves Lampaert will assist Tim Merlier.