In typical Patrick Lefevere style, the former Belgian team boss hasn't held back in his assessment of the major management changes that Lidl-Trek announced this week, describing the end of Luca Guercilena's time in charge as "not a literal dagger in the back, but it remains cowardly".
Speaking in his weekly Het Nieuwsblad column, Lefevere focused on the German team's overhaul, which was revealed earlier this week, with longstanding General Manager Guercilena – whom he worked with at Mapei back in the 90s – departing after 16 years, and former Tour de France winner Andy Schleck replacing him as CEO.
“Once there was the assassination of Julius Caesar, now there is the PR text with which Lidl-Trek said goodbye to general manager Luca Guercilena this week: 'We thank him for his vision, leadership and passion… blah blah blah'.'It is not a literal dagger in the back, but it remains cowardly, of course," said Lefevere in Nieuwsblad on Saturday.
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"I heard that he still had two years left on his contract, so I hope the 'severance pay' is commensurate. Luca and I go way back: I brought him on board in 1996, at the Mapei training center, where he later coached young talents Fabian Cancellara and Filippo Pozzato."
Lefevere had positive recollections of encounters with Schleck as a racer, but admitted that a CEO role wasn't one he pictured in his future.
Schleck was appointed as Deputy General Manager at Lidl-Trek back in December before this next jump-up, while his brother, Fränk Schleck, became team manager of the women's team in April.
"How much wisdom and assessment went into the appointment of Andy Schleck as the new CEO? I admit: I don't know him personally and he deserves a chance to prove otherwise, but when I encountered him in the Tour in recent years as the face of Skoda, I always saw a very sweet guy in him, but never a CEO," said Lefevere.
"Many business people who suddenly find themselves in charge in football or cycling run into the same problem: it is difficult to distinguish competent people from smooth talkers if you yourself have no technical sports background."
Other changes included former Visma stalwart Grischa Niermann joining as Chief Sporting Officer and former Red Bull coach Dan Lorange becoming Head of Performance, as they go through a "leadership transition," though this will only start fully on August 1, and Niermann will only be able to start from September 1.
Lefevere couldn't help but question the timing of all the announcements, especially with the Tour de France just around the corner on July 4. Any success for their leaders, he says, will be in spite of this staffing drama, not as a result of it.
"What I find most striking is the timing of the entire operation. Such a dramatic game of musical chairs one month before the Tour de France," he said.
"If Juan Ayuso or Mattias Skjelmose manage to make anything of it, it will be despite the reorganization. Certainly not because of it."
In what has been a full week of super team "musical chairs", Lefevere, who stepped down as team boss of Soudal-QuickStep at the end of 2024, was left bewildered by the new big players like Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe, describing them as "the nouveaux riches" and questioning the strategy of all their big spending.
"Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe are the nouveaux riches of the peloton and act like it too: they spend a lot of money on everything that is in fashion, but the question is whether it all fits together," said Lefevere.
