09/03/2024

"Their pockets are still deeper than mine" - Patrick Lefevere reveals Soudal - Quick-Step attempted to sign Brandon McNulty and Matteo Jorgenson

Brandon McNulty and Matteo Jorgenson are both starring currently at Paris-Nice, sitting pretty first and second in the general classification with just two stages to go.

The American duo currently ride for UAE Team Emirates and Team Visma | Lease a Bike respectively but had Soudal - Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere had his way, McNulty and Jorgenson could have been teammates. “It's ironic that McNulty and Jorgenson are now number one and two in the overall standings. Two riders whose sleeve I have pulled quite hard in recent years. That has to do with their talent that we identified early, but also with their nationality. Our bicycle manufacturer Specialized likes to see good Americans in our team," he says in his column for Het Nieuwsblad.

GC update Paris-Nice 2024 stage 6: American domination with McNulty and Jorgenson in the lead; Remco Evenepoel over 1 minute behind yellow jersey

"UAE Team Emirates also made a proposal (for McNulty ed.). And their pockets are still deeper than mine,” the Belgian team loss laments. Jorgenson too came close to a Soudal - Quick-Step move. “We talked to him last year when he was still riding for Movistar. But I immediately felt that he already had his sights on Team Visma | Lease a Bike had set.”

After those feelers were pushed back, Lefevere switched focus to Lotto Dstny duo Lennert Van Eetvelt and Maxim Van Gils although he believes he knows the answer to why those two were also unsuccessful signing attempts.

“They must have pulled out the oldest trick in the book: 'At Soudal Quick-Step you will only have to work for Remco Evenepoel,'" Lefevere says, although he denies that would be true. "While Ilan Van Wilder proves that a hybrid role of half servant-half leader can be very interesting. That's also how we want to play Luke Lamperti Because we have really found our talented American. Luke is a promising classic rider and sprinter who I think can initially learn a lot as a lead-out from Tim Merlier. After that, he can become the American poster boy that Specialized has been waiting for for so long.”