What we learn about now is that within the team there was a general lack of information that the leader was indeed leaving. Yves Lampaert told Het Nieuwsblad: “We had a meeting an hour before the press release was released. Understand is an overstatement, because we don’t really know what was wrong with Remco. It all happened a bit above our heads. But hey, he made the choice. As a team, we owe a lot to Remco, and vice versa, so I hope we can part as friends.”
Lampaert is part of the teams classics block which can now be revived, and he believes that perhaps this lack of closeness with his teammate is what had him more surprised about the sudden transfer that was unveiled to Red Bull – BORA – hansgrohe.
“Perhaps because I’m a different type of rider and because I see things slightly differently than he does. You hear most of it through the media or on Peloton radio. You don’t know how much of it is true; the rumors have been circulating for years, but I’m not shocked by them anymore.”
“Remco himself sent a message in our general WhatsApp group saying he’s leaving and thanking everyone,” the Belgian shared. “He hasn’t addressed the rest of the group yet, but it’s probably all a bit much for him too at the moment”.
“For the management, yes. They can move on now, and it’s also clear to the sponsors now. We, the riders, will certainly miss him. He delivered a lot of trophies and therefore took the pressure off the rest. On the other hand, and I’ll say it in Tom Boonen’s words: if you cut down a large tree, the small trees underneath grow much faster.”