“I wish he’d just shut up forever”: Patrick Lefevere blasted for claiming that women’s cycling is “being pushed artificially”

The always-controversial Soudal Quick-Step general manager Patrick Lefevere has once again attracted the ire of cycling fans this week after claiming that the women’s side of the sport is “being pushed artificially” and that many pros “are not worth” the current minimum wage set by the UCI.

Despite infamously denouncing women’s cycling as a charity case in 2021, the veteran Belgian boss joined forces with the UCI Women’s Continental team NXTG – now known as AG Insurance-Soudal Quick-Step – later that year, before incorporating the squad, along with its junior and U23 development teams, under the broader Quick-Step umbrella in March 2022.

Though it failed to secure, as Lefevere had hoped, a WorldTour place for 2023, the team has started the season brightly, with Ally Wollaston securing the New Zealand national road race championships last week before Lotta Henttala, on her return to the peloton after giving birth last year, sprinted to second behind former world champion Elisa Balsamo on yesterday’s opening stage of the Setmana Valenciana.

> Women’s team NXTG by Experza joins forces with Quick Step-Alpha Vinyl

In an interview with the weekly Belgian newspaper De Krant van West-Vlaanderen, Lefevere reiterated his lofty ambitions for the team, underlined by the winter signing of perennial GC contender Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio, as well as the acquisition of former Team Sky director Servais Knaven as a DS.

“In the long term I also want to compete at the top in women’s cycling,” the 68-year-old said. “After all, I cannot afford to be the world’s best with my men’s team and to drive right in front of the broom wagon with my women’s team.”

Lefevere then noted that he was inspired to invest in women’s cycling after being invited, bizarrely, to the hen party of Human Powered Health’s former Belgian champion Jesse Vandenbulcke (then riding for Le Col-Wahoo), which was also attended by three-time world cyclocross champion Sanne Cant and NXTG sports director Jolien D'Hoore, who schooled the Quick-Step boss on the realities faced by the sport’s female riders.

“We got to talking, of course about cycling, and it was only then that I realized how marginal the sport of women's cycling actually was at that time,” he said.

“Jesse Vandenbulcke, a former Belgian champion, is a good example of this. She is 27 years old, already has a child, but still raced for 250 euros a month. How is that possible?

“Then I decided I had to do something… If you’re going to do it, do it right. Otherwise, you better not start. It will take time and we have to build.”

> A long time coming: The rebirth of the Tour de France Femmes

However, it was Lefevere’s reservations about the current state of women’s cycling which have attracted criticism from fans on social media.

“I definitely believe in the potential of women’s cycling, don’t get me wrong. It’s just that it’s being artificially pushed at the moment,” he said.

“Take the minimum wage, for example: in the WorldTour that is 60,000 euros on an annual basis, the same amount as for men. That’s not okay. Again: don’t get me wrong, I wish it wholeheartedly for them, but there are riders who are not worth that amount at all.

“In the Tour [de France Femmes] last year, for example, they had to increase the time limit because otherwise half of the peloton would have arrived outside of time. You don’t pay 60,000 euros for someone who can’t come along, do you?

“There are certainly riders who earn that amount, and some much more, but today the top in women’s cycling is just not wide enough to justify that minimum wage.”

Lefevere’s remarks about the minimum wage have prompted some on social media to question the veteran manager’s understanding of women’s cycling.

Last year, the UCI raised the minimum wage for the Women’s WorldTour – first introduced in 2020 – to €32,102, in line with the minimum set for the second-tier men’s ProTeams (and not, as Lefevere indicated, the men’s top division). That base salary is set to increase to €35,000 in 2024, and €38,000 for 2025.

As women’s cycling writer Mathew Mitchell pointed out on Twitter, Lefevere may have confused the minimum wage set for fully-contracted team riders with that of “self-employed” pros (of roughly €52,000), who forgo employment protections and additional benefits such as health insurance.

Nevertheless, the Belgian’s typically blunt appraisal of the increasingly booming women’s side of the sport has been widely ridiculed on social media.

Because why should women be paid the same as the men for doing the same job?

But in reality, the minimum salary for WWT in 2023 is at €32,102. These salaries will increase in 2024 (35,000 euros) and 2025 (38,000 euros). Far from the 60K a year our old friend mentions there... https://t.co/gOezsWzOjo

— Nancy Arreola (@Nancy_Arreola) February 17, 2023

One Twitter user urged the veteran DS to “just shut up forever”, while another argued that Lefevere appears to have “completely forgot how important it is for the development of those girls to have that [minimum] salary. Even [Annemiek van Vlueten] has paid for altitude camps out of her own pocket. That’s where the sport is at.”

“Personally don’t give a damn about his opinion which is often factually wrong,” wrote Kay. “Seen enough from him over the years to know just who he is. Some say he is brutally honest but I don’t see a lot of honesty.”

However, other Twitter users – while not necessarily fans of the outspoken team manager – did agree that women’s cycling is currently growing at what may prove an unsustainable rate.

“Typical ill-informed Lefevere, but for once he does have a point which is that the WWT is being artificially inflated and too quickly,” says Emma. “Too many races, not enough focus on bringing riders through Junior and U23 level. The best are very good, better than ever. The gap is wide though.”

> Deceuninck CEO says Quick-Step women's team reluctance contributed to split

Today’s social media storm certainly isn’t the first time that Lefevere has divided opinion due to his comments on women’s cycling.

In September 2021, when asked about forming a new women’s team, he bluntly replied, “With all due respect, but I’m not the OCMW [Belgium’s Public Centre for Social Welfare] either, hey.”

This dismissive approach to women’s cycling was cited by sponsors Deceuninck later that year as one of their reasons for jumping ship to the Mathieu van der Poel-led Alpecin team.

“As a modern company we want to participate in women's cycling,” Deceuninck’s CEO Francis Van Eeckhout said at the time. “Women’s cycling is increasing in importance and we cannot ignore that. We discussed that, but Patrick is Patrick.”

However, in the same week Lefevere shocked Van Eeckhout and the rest of the cycling world by committing to the NXTG team through his recruitment agency Experza, a relationship that has since developed into the squad coming under the Quick-Step umbrella.