After his recent serious bouts with illness, Patrick Lefevere still isn't back to 100%, but he's well enough to be back at the races, joining the team he managed for over two decades, Soudal-QuickStep, at the UAE Tour.
Donning a team-branded white long-sleeve shirt, brown shorts and a blue trilby hat, the team's honorary executive board member still stood out among the riders. And after they've failed to yet take a win after 37 days – the longest wait for a season maiden victory in their 23-year history – Lefevere urged patience.
"Well, we've had a little bit of bad luck, because we lost Tim Merlier with knee problems and also Paul Magnier with health problems. But OK, the season is long," Lefevere told Cyclingnews ahead of the stage 2 time trial.
"Everybody starts to be nervous because the others are winning. But if you win something like Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, for us, or a Classic, everybody will shut up, won't they?
"I always had a nice expression, 'Panic is a bad advisor'."
In years gone by, QuickStep's reputation of having great sprinters has typically got them off to a flying start, with the likes of Tom Boonen, Mark Cavendish and Sam Bennett getting things going for when Lefevere was in charge, but now under the leadership of Jurgen Foré, the wait must go on, but perhaps not for much longer.
They are currently one of only four men's WorldTour teams who are yet to take a win in 2026.
Magnier does start his second race of the season on Wednesday at the Volta ao Algarve, so that stat could be left in the rearview mirror very quickly, and with their focus shifting back to the Classics for this season, Opening Weekend and the spring Classics will be the place they are really judged.
Perhaps mellowing into his old age, or maybe with some new perspective after his recent health problems, Lefevere wasn't taking any more swipes at the likes of Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe boss Ralph Denk, with more focus on enjoying the racing and his time in the sun.
He revealed to La Dernière Heure Sport's podcast last month that "I thought I was going to die. Twice, I told my wife that it was all over for me," after an abscess and suffering from two bouts of septicemia, which forced him into some serious lifestyle changes.
"I'm not recovered 100%, but it's going up," he said, before explaining at least partly why he was out in the Middle East with the team. "I like to go to those countries. It's always sunny and in Belgium, well, I think in the whole of Europe, there was rain, wind, cold, and I said, 'I have to escape'."
His former superstar rider, Remco Evenepoel, is currently leading the race after winning the time trial on stage 2, and while the two do keep in contact, even after he left for Red Bull in the summer, Lefevere hadn't yet seen him, but he was impressed with the flying start he's made, winning six times already in 2026.
"I didn't meet with him here yet. From time to time, we do WhatsApp still," said Lefevere. "But of course, he had a hell of a start. You have to see also who the competitors are, but I think this is the first WorldTour race, and we will see what it brings.
"[Isaac] del Toro is a phenomenal rider, still so young, and I saw his sprint yesterday on TV – he had guts to go from so far, but we'll see on the last day."
On the question of how to best keep up in today's ever-evolving cycling world, the retired team boss related it to the global accelerations of technology that encompass everyone's everyday lives, with adaptation being key.
"Well, the world is moving quickly, so we cannot stand still. It's not only cycling, but the total world," added Lefevere.
"If you see what happens now, with AI and all those tools. Now you don't know if you see a picture with a real one or a false one, so I don't know, it's going fast. I'm an old guy, but I just try to adapt."
