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It’s the tip of an period as Patrick Lefevere steps down as CEO of the Soudal-QuickStep staff. As deliberate since late in 2023, COO Jurgen Foré will take over the position that Lefevere has held for over 20 years.
Lefevere had promised to stay because the staff’s supervisor till 2026 when the staff introduced that Foré would transition step by step into the CEO position, however the information comes a yr earlier as Lefevere will finish his tenure on December 31, 2024.
Lefevere will keep on as an honorary board member for the staff, whereas Foré will take his place on the chief board alongside shareholder Zdenek Bakala and Auret Van Zyl, the staff’s counsel.
“It’s a life altering second to go away a job that I’ve dedicated a lot of my life to,” Lefevere mentioned within the staff’s press launch. “Biking is a sport that I’m nonetheless deeply captivated with, and it has been an excellent honour to go up this stunning staff and make so many particular recollections.
“However I felt that it was the best second for this transformation. Once I began to work with Jurgen one yr in the past, it was with a view to smoothing out the transition for after I would ultimately go away. I’ve seen how his relationships with our sponsors and companions, in addition to the staff’s inner stakeholders has grown during the last 12 months, and I do know that with Jurgen taking up as CEO and with the board’s backing, that this staff has a brilliant future.
“There are numerous those who I have to thank, far too many to say individually, however there are after all my household, the staff’s gifted riders, our devoted employees, our loyal sponsors, all of which is backed by the generosity and assist of our staff proprietor Mr. Zdenek Bakala.”
Lefevere spent his most of his profession in biking first as a rider and, after hanging up his wheels at 24, as a sports activities director and supervisor for quite a lot of groups together with the dominant Mapei staff. In 2001, he returned to Belgium to begin the Domo-Farm Frites staff, which later merged with the remnants of Mapei to kind Quickstep-Davitamon in 2003.
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Star riders who labored with Lefevere embrace Johan Museeuw, Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Julian Alaphilippe and, extra lately, Remco Evenepoel.
Lefevere, who will flip 70 in January, led his groups to just about 1000 victories in keeping with the press launch, together with 19 world titles, 22 Monuments and Remco Evenepoel’s Vuelta a España victory in 2022 as his sole Grand Tour win.
“I wish to begin by thanking Patrick for his dedication and fervour in making Soudal Fast-Step the staff it’s in the present day,” Bakala mentioned. “Patrick has typically spoken of the exhausting work of his employees and the riders, however that’s fostered by the figurehead on the prime and we should always not underestimate the way in which Patrick has constructed a tradition that enables these riders and employees to thrive.
“Nonetheless, we all know that sooner or later all issues change and we really feel that that is the best time to make these structural adjustments to our staff’s administration, which have been made with the settlement of all events. With this transition I exhibit my dedication to the long-term way forward for the staff and making certain a brilliant future for Soudal Fast-Step.”
The information comes because the staff has put aside lots of its historic objectives within the Spring Classics in favour of supporting Evenepoel in his quest to win the Tour de France. The staff employed seven new riders for 2025 however misplaced Alaphilippe to Tudor and former Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen to EF Training-EasyPost.
Foré will now oversee the way forward for Soudal-Quickstep, and he paid tribute to Lefevere within the press launch.
“Patrick Lefevere has been a figurehead in skilled biking, who all have nice respect and admiration for. He has been in a position to construct a agency base and stability that has seen this staff develop for over twenty years. I wish to personally thank him for the assist that he has given me over the previous 12 months since I joined the staff. I perceive and really feel how particular this organisation is, and I’ll do the whole lot in my energy to care for it.
“I’ll now look to steer this staff, working in direction of securing its long-term future. I’ve been concerned in biking in a number of roles and as a part of the staff’s administration and I’m assured that by combining this with my expertise in enterprise, it would enable me to construct a construction that may take Soudal Fast-Step from energy to energy.”
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