Julian Alaphilippe will be leaving Soudal Quick-Step. At least, that is, according to outspoken team boss Patrick Lefevere.
Lefevere, who has frequently publicly antagonized his star French rider with disparaging comments to the media, told Het Nieuwsblad that Alaphilippe “Called me himself this week to let me know that he was leaving.”
The Soudal boss made the comment on the same day that Alaphilippe finished second at the San Sebastian Klasikoa, a major one-day race in Spain’s Basque country.
Lefevere added that Alaphilippe “Had been awake at night and had been sick for weeks” while making the decision.
A question of cash? Or a matter of the heart?
Given the public treatment the two-time world champion has been the brunt of from his team boss, that hand-wringing seems unlikely, but maybe it’s true. Alaphilippe has been linked to interest from several other major teams at this point but has yet to officially leave the Soudal Quick-Step team.
Lefevere added further comments about salary, a popular point of contention that he’s fond of bringing up, saying that he’d offered Alaphilippe a lower contract with performance-based bonuses.
“I love Julian,” Lefevere said, adding “I don’t want to pay him more than I already have.”
The Frenchman recently won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in his first appearance. He was then not selected for Soudal Quick-Step’s Tour de France team.
“I would understand if he chooses the money,” Lefevere continued. “But if he chooses with his heart, then I think he will stay with us.”
The heart wants what the heart wants. But, while Alaphilippe says he is unbothered by his boss’s public pot-stirring, few would argue that leaving Lefevere would be a purely emotional decision at that point.
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