Soudal Fast-Step boss Patrick Lefevere has apologised for making derogatory remarks about ladies, after being threatened with a hefty positive by the UCI if he didn’t achieve this.
He was informed by the UCI final month that until he issued the apology for “public feedback thought of as disparaging in the direction of ladies”, he would pay a positive of 20,000 Swiss francs (£17,500 / $21,900).
The substantial assertion on the workforce’s web site begins: “On Thursday, March 14, 2024, I used to be knowledgeable that the UCI Ethics Committee determined that two feedback I made had been opposite to the UCI Code of Ethics.
“The committee refers to those two feedback: one in an article on July 3, 2021 in Het Nieuwsblad and one in a tv interview on March 8, 2023 in this system De Afspraak.”
The latter featured Lefevere speaking about what he described because the elevated use of alcohol by ladies, suggesting not everybody can deal with it nicely and so they then undergo on the bike the next day.
He had appeared on the programme, experiences Dutch outlet Wielerflits, to speak in regards to the documentary sequence ‘Patrick Lefevere: Godfather of the Race’, however on what was Worldwide Girls’s Day, was additionally invited to provide his opinion about inappropriate habits and sexual violence in opposition to ladies.
The Het Nieuwsblad piece then again, appeared to comprise no suspect remarks, being virtually completely centered on Mark Cavendish’s two Tour de France stage wins.
Lefevere’s assertion went on to say:
“I acknowledge that the statements referred to could also be skilled as doubtful. It was by no means my intention to offend anybody, so I apologise. I expressly apologise to the UCI, the UCI Ethics Committee and all individuals concerned or those that discovered this remark offensive.
“The best way our workforce works is proof that it was by no means my intention to offend anybody: at present we make use of 74 riders and 106 full-time employees, each women and men, in a various and inclusive work surroundings that doesn’t discriminate based mostly on origin or gender. On this manner we are going to proceed our journey.”
Lefevere, who’s 69, is not any stranger to controversy. His outspoken remarks within the Belgian media have usually landed him in scorching water – most just lately when he criticised Soudal Fast-Step rider Julian Alaphilippe for an absence of outcomes, saying there had been “an excessive amount of partying” and saying he was “severely underneath the affect” of his accomplice Marion Rousse.
It led to accusations of bullying, in addition to Geraint Thomas suggesting he had “misplaced the plot” throughout an episode of the Geraint Thomas Biking Membership.
Lefevere gained few followers along with his stance on beginning a ladies’s workforce, saying in 2021 that he was “not a welfare centre” when requested whether or not he would begin a ladies’s workforce. Fast Step does now sponsor the AG Insurance coverage-Fast Step ladies’s WorldTour workforce.
