{"id":587541,"date":"2026-04-05T18:20:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:20:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587541\/"},"modified":"2026-04-05T18:20:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-05T18:20:16","slug":"lying-is-dangerous-patrick-lefevere-warns-remco-evenepoel-as-media-storm-around-tour-of-flanders-debut-continues","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/587541\/","title":{"rendered":"“Lying is dangerous” – Patrick Lefevere warns Remco Evenepoel as media storm around Tour of Flanders debut continues"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThose remarks land in the wake of a confused buildup to the announcement, where reports of Evenepoel\u2019s participation were dismissed by the team before being confirmed just hours later. The episode drew a pointed reaction from journalist Daniel Benson, who criticised the handling directly. \u201cYeah, not sure why someone from the team management had to flat-out tell me something that wasn\u2019t true this morning. Not appreciated. Just say no comment,\u201d the respected reporter reacted on social media.<\/a><\/p>\n

That moment has fed into a broader narrative that has quickly developed into a public disagreement over Evenepoel\u2019s relationship with Flanders itself, and why it has taken until 2026 for him to appear at the race.<\/p>\n

Disagreement over the past adds fuel to the presentEarlier this week, Lefevere suggested the absence had been down to Evenepoel\u2019s own reluctance during his time at Soudal – Quick-Step<\/a>. \u201cI told him for years that he should ride Flanders, but back then he didn\u2019t want to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Evenepoel has pushed back on that version of events, offering a direct contradiction. \u201cThat was always blocked.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lefevere has now responded again, insisting the situation was not so clear-cut. \u201cI always thought he simply didn\u2019t want to, but Remco assures me \u2013 even this week by text message \u2013 that it was our coaches who put a veto on it. I\u2019m not necessarily disputing that, but let\u2019s be clear: in those years, Remco had the final say within the team. If he had really wanted it, Milano-Sanremo and the Tour of Flanders<\/a> would have been on his programme.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exchange has shifted what might have been a straightforward debut into a more layered story, where the focus has moved beyond the race itself to how it has been framed in the days leading up to it.<\/p>\n

\"Remco<\/p>\n

Remco Evenepoel during stage 5 of the 2026 Volta a Catalunya<\/p>\n

Still a contender despite the noise<\/p>\n

Amid the criticism, Lefevere has also been clear that Evenepoel\u2019s presence in the race is not without merit, even if it comes without the same grounding on the cobbles as some of his rivals. \u201cFighting for position and riding on cobbles will never be his speciality. Just because you ride up a wet Koppenberg on a recon doesn\u2019t suddenly make you a specialist in the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

Yet he also pointed to the possibility of a different kind of race scenario, one that could suit Evenepoel far more than a traditional, tightly controlled edition. \u201cBut there are also scenarios where the Tour of Flanders is not a race about positioning and fighting for space. Who still remembers how Philippe Gilbert won? As a team, we set up a move that turned it into a natural selection almost from the start. In that kind of Tour of Flanders, Evenepoel is always in contention.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the race approaching, the debate around Evenepoel\u2019s participation has already taken on a life of its own. Lefevere\u2019s warning adds another layer, ensuring that attention will remain as much on the narrative around the start line as on what unfolds once the racing begins.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Those remarks land in the wake of a confused buildup to the announcement, where reports of Evenepoel\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":587542,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[569],"tags":[64,63,784,198088,39733,8396,85,167262],"class_list":{"0":"post-587541","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-cycling","11":"tag-patrick-lefevere","12":"tag-red-bull-bora-hansgrohe","13":"tag-remco-evenepoel","14":"tag-sports","15":"tag-tour-of-flanders"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587541","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=587541"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/587541\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/587542"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=587541"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=587541"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=587541"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}