It is the top of an period as Patrick Lefevere steps down as CEO of the Soudal-QuickStep crew. As deliberate since late in 2023, COO Jurgen Foré will take over the function that Lefevere has held for over 20 years.
Lefevere had promised to stay because the crew’s supervisor till 2026 when the crew introduced that Foré would transition regularly into the CEO function, however the information comes a 12 months earlier as Lefevere will finish his tenure on December 31, 2024.
Lefevere will keep on as an honorary board member for the crew, whereas Foré will take his place on the manager board alongside shareholder Zdenek Bakala and Auret Van Zyl, the crew’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 crew’s press launch. “Biking is a sport that I’m nonetheless deeply enthusiastic about, and it has been an awesome honour to move up this lovely crew and make so many particular reminiscences.
“However I felt that it was the correct second for this modification. After I began to work with Jurgen one 12 months in the past, it was with a view to smoothing out the transition for once I would finally depart. I’ve seen how his relationships with our sponsors and companions, in addition to the crew’s inner stakeholders has grown over the past 12 months, and I do know that with Jurgen taking on as CEO and with the board’s backing, that this crew has a vivid future.
“There are numerous folks that I must thank, far too many to say individually, however there are in fact my household, the crew’s proficient riders, our devoted workers, our loyal sponsors, all of which is backed by the generosity and assist of our crew 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 crew. In 2001, he returned to Belgium to begin the Domo-Farm Frites crew, which later merged with the remnants of Mapei to type 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 not too long ago, Remco Evenepoel.
Lefevere, who will flip 70 in January, led his groups to just about 1000 victories in accordance 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 want to begin by thanking Patrick for his dedication and keenness in making Soudal Fast-Step the crew it’s at the moment,” Bakala mentioned. “Patrick has usually spoken of the arduous work of his workers and the riders, however that’s fostered by the figurehead on the high and we must always not underestimate the best way Patrick has constructed a tradition that permits these riders and workers to thrive.
“Nonetheless, we all know that in some unspecified time in the future all issues change and we really feel that that is the correct time to make these structural adjustments to our crew’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 crew and guaranteeing a vivid future for Soudal Fast-Step.”
The information comes because the crew has put aside lots of its historic targets within the Spring Classics in favour of supporting Evenepoel in his quest to win the Tour de France. The crew employed seven new riders for 2025 however misplaced Alaphilippe to Tudor and former Tour of Flanders winner Kasper Asgreen to EF Schooling-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 crew develop for over 20 years. I want to personally thank him for the assist that he has given me over the previous 12 months since I joined the crew. I perceive and really feel how particular this organisation is, and I’ll do every thing in my energy to handle it.
“I’ll now look to steer this crew, 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 crew’s administration and I’m assured that by combining this with my expertise in enterprise, it can enable me to construct a construction that may take Soudal Fast-Step from energy to energy.”
