Former Soudal-QuickStep team boss Patrick Lefevere has revealed that he contacted Juan Ayuso while he was still a UAE Team Emirates-XRG rider as a potential replacement if Remco Evenepoel left during his time in charge, which ended at the end of 2024.
Lefevere started making moves in the GC rider market after continued interest poured in for Evenepoel from Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe owner Ralph Denk, who eventually managed to lure the Belgian away one year before his Soudal-QuickStep contract expired this past summer.
There's not been much love lost for Lefevere whenever he speaks about Denk, admitting several times how he dislikes the German team boss, and that grudge has lingered even past him stepping down from everyday involvement in the sport.
"I sold Remco's project to Soudal for five years. And then, after three years, the trouble started," said Lefevere in a recent extensive interview on La Dernière Heure Les Sports' Radio Peloton podcast.
"Denk offered Remco a contract. Since then, it hasn't stopped. I even filed a complaint with the UCI. Because there's a regulation that says all three parties must agree for a rider to break their contract. I hate him. There was a rule, and he ignored it."
Lefevere also suggested how the UCI were "afraid" to take action against Denk due to his team's financial backing, saying: "In case of a lawsuit, Red Bull has unlimited financial resources that would bankrupt the UCI."
With that in mind, it was the rising Spanish GC rider whom Lefevere had in mind as his contingency plan in the early 2020s, but by 2022, Ayuso had already locked up his future until 2028 – until the issues of last year arose and he departed for Lidl-Trek.
Lefevere said he protected his and the team's interests by "being one step ahead. That's why a few years ago I contacted Juan Ayuso's father in case Remco were to leave. But the rider was under contract and we didn't go any further."
He admitted that he still speaks with Evenepoel, who kicked off his Red Bull career with a bang in Mallorca, taking a hat-trick of wins with his new team, and commented further on his decision to leave early.
"Yes and no," he said, to the question of whether he understood the change. "I can understand that you're fed up with your surroundings. And well, I can also hear that, if you're ambitious, you might think the grass is greener elsewhere. I just hope Remco doesn't ask to come back in two years."
Despite his recent bouts with illness in the autumn, which Lefevere didn't hide the severity of in his words, admitting that "I thought I was going to die. Twice, I told my wife that it was all over for me," he still had a keen opinion on Evenepoel and taking on Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates-XRG).
While noting how it will, of course, be a "great challenge" for Evenepoel to dethrone the Slovenian, he has high hopes for his former superstar and is well in the belief that the world champion isn't invincible.
"I'm certainly looking forward to seeing them both at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. The Tour de France? That's something else entirely. For Remco, having had optimal winter preparation is crucial. Every time he's done that, he's had a great season afterwards," said Lefevere, who called for more cooperation against the UAE rider.
"I'm convinced that Pogačar is beatable. For me, Pogačar isn't killing cycling. What's negative is the lack of coordination among the other teams to try and stop him from winning.
"If I had been in the team car at the 2024 World Championships in Zurich, the Slovenian would never have become world champion. I would have gone to see the national selectors from other countries, and we would have organized ourselves to ride as a team. That's the only way to beat such a champion."
