29/04/2023

Patrick Lefevere reveals uncertainty when it comes to Soudal-Quick-Step's future transfer plans: "I'm not sure how best to position ourselves in that war for talent"

Once again a somewhat disappointing Spring Classics campaign for Soudal - Quick-Step was saved by a brilliant Liege-Bastogne-Liege win by Remco Evenepoel. Casting an eye to the future, Patrick Lefevere reveals his uncertainty at how best to proceed in the coming transfer windows.

"A trend that continues in cycling: the hunt for the very best juniors. All teams are participating, including us. To be honest, I'm not sure how best to position ourselves in that war for talent," says Lefevere in his column for Het Nieuwsblad. "Everyone is looking for the new Tadej Pogacar, the new Remco Evenepoel or the new Juan Ayuso. But we do talk about children."

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The big decision of whether to try and sign proven, World Tour level riders or a hot prospect who could potentially burn out remains a tricky one for Lefevere. "My dilemma is: should you join the rest at the bottom of that pyramid, or should you wait until the first triage has been made and the real talents float to the surface?" He questions.

"Common sense says the latter, but in practice you see that teams immediately give their top talents very long contracts," Lefevere continues. "The cynical financial consideration is therefore: give contracts to teenagers, join the managers who also play the game of supply and demand at that age, or watch them sign elsewhere and accept that it costs money to bring in the real talents afterwards."

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For a perfect example of this dilemma, Lefevere points to Jan Tratnik. "In 2011 we signed Jan Tratnik, then a very interesting twenty-year-old rider. He came over from the small Slovenian continental team Zheroquadro Radenska," he explains. "It didn't work for us at all: he struggled with nutrition, yo-yo with his weight and eventually got mental problems. He left again after one season. Tratnik then raced for continental teams for five years, only to resurface somewhat at CCC. After such a course, still reach the level that he now achieves: I take my hat off to him."