Quick Step’s less than spectacular year is down to mercurial Belgian taking a back seat, he says
Quick Step did not enjoy its most successful season in 2010. Saxo Bank’s Fabian Cancellara won both the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix, previously the property of the Belgian team, while Tom Boonen, the team’s biggest star, spent most of the sharp end of the season off his bike with a knee injury.
There were some bright spots, including Wouter Weylandt's and Jerome Pineau’s stage wins in the Giro d’Italia, Barredo’s stage of the Vuelta a España, and Sylvain Chavanel’s two stages of the Tour de France and two days in yellow; in all though, the year was a disappointing one.
Much of the team’s misfortune can be attributed to Boonen’s absence from many of the biggest races; but not all of it, the team’s general manager Patrick Lefevere says. The team did not perform as well as it might have done because he is taking a much less of a hands-on role within the team.
"This year I found that the team does not run if I am not there physically," said Lefevere to Sporza. "The people I thought would be able to replace me, can not seem to lead this team.
“How will I fix this?” he asked. “It’s solved, I'm still here."
Lefevere has apparently made some changes to the way he works. “Someone from the team said that I was a bit negative,” he said, “but I recently turned around.”