RIP. He actually showed some signs in the past few years that he could reemerge as a successful TT specialist if he really wanted to and committed to it. He seems to have felt that he was useless because his climbing slipped too much, but he top 5'd multiple WT TT's in 2019 when that wasn't even his training focus.
Overall a shame that he fizzled out so hard after such a promising start to his career.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
I tried sharing DQT’s tweet, now it’s working properly.
Yeah, I don’t know but Lefevere should just keep quiet before GTs or whenever he can. He said that Bennett was fit and leaving him out of the Tour would be a psychological blow for him (guess for any pro cyclist with a shot at riding the Tour), but maybe the fact he’ll be leaving the team for 2022 might have weighted the decision. Or, in fact, it’s the injury blow, which I hope had more relevance in him being left out.
Not sure I'm buying that you skip the biggest race of the year in favor of... well just not racing, because your form may not be at it's absolute peak like you wanted.
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
baseballlover312 wrote:
Not sure I'm buying that you skip the biggest race of the year in favor of... well just not racing, because your form may not be at it's absolute peak like you wanted.
Lefevere agrees with you:
Lefevere is questioning Sam Bennet's reasoning for not taking part in the Tour de France after a series of events:
"I can't prove he doesn't have knee pain, but I'm starting to think more and more that it's more performance anxiety than just pain."https://t.co/UlhE4UCc2I
He continues: "Three days before the Tour of Belgium, he bumped his knee against his handlebars. He didn't tell us about it. When he arrived, we sent him home again. Then it was a yes-no game: to train or not to train?"
"Yesterday he was supposed to come to Belgium, but then there were problems with his plane again. Then you start to think strange things. He will have to come anyway. I'm not going to let this pass by."
Obviously, he wouldn't say this if Bennett wasn't leaving at the end of the year, but I still think it's a bad thing to go public like this. Like, if you really think this is a mental issue, do you think this is helping him? Either he cares more about his own public perception (like Freitas said, he did announce the opposite just a few days ago) than about his riders' mental health, or he thinks Bennett just needs to "man up" or whatever and this public criticism will be a wake-up call? But that feels pretty backwards. Shame to see this happening even after Kittel's retirement and the breaks of Dumoulin and Kämna, among other things.
Yeah, while I am a big fan of Lefevere's teams historically, and his team building skills, I think he's kind of an "old-school" manager, and doesn't seem capable of simply letting things rest. He seems to have the "don't let the door hit you on the way out" attitude to all of his riders, which surely puts questions into riders heads if they would want to ride for him in the first place imo, and leads to a negative team environment for current members.
He clearly picks favourites, which can be expected to some degree, and in the case of Evenepoel makes sense, but Lefevere could almost be saying the same things about Remco as he is about Bennett, but choses not to.
In the end, I think its mostly just Lefevere protecting his ego, and justifying his decision, without explicitly saying Bennett didn't make the tour due to leaving the team, because while we know it happens all the time, I think theres an unwritten rule that no one speaks about that being the real reason for not riding the Tour.
- Bennett gave 3 different storis about his injury to 3 different people on the team.
- The plane story, it was first delayed and then overbooked. According to Bennett, he was the unlucky guy that could not fly.
- Bennett was told by team doctors to rest his injured knee, but visited a physio in Monaco that told him to train again and so he did.
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Ollfardh wrote:
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Is it? I mean, even if these things are true, which they well might be, and you come to the conclusion that he has a fear of failure, it's still not the correct choice to make those thoughts public, at least in my opinion. It would then be your job to work with the rider to overcome his issues, if not personally then by referring him to someone whose job it is. Even if he leaves at the end of the year, you're still responsible for him at the moment. And if he's out not because of that but because of disciplinary reasons or because the team doesn't trust him, then Lefevere should say exactly that.
This is saying nothing about whether it was actually the correct choice to leave Bennett out of the squad. The reasons may be valid. The way Lefevere dealt with it doesn't seem okay to me.
I’ll be disappointed if there is no Quick Step drama before La Vuelta. We should make some bets to find who’s the next rider to be criticized by Lefevere.
Ollfardh wrote:
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Is it? I mean, even if these things are true, which they well might be, and you come to the conclusion that he has a fear of failure, it's still not the correct choice to make those thoughts public, at least in my opinion. It would then be your job to work with the rider to overcome his issues, if not personally then by referring him to someone whose job it is. Even if he leaves at the end of the year, you're still responsible for him at the moment. And if he's out not because of that but because of disciplinary reasons or because the team doesn't trust him, then Lefevere should say exactly that.
This is saying nothing about whether it was actually the correct choice to leave Bennett out of the squad. The reasons may be valid. The way Lefevere dealt with it doesn't seem okay to me.
I mostly disagree with that. Lefevre has 29 other riders and team sponsors to take care off, he can't let this pass because it's mental problems. The way Bennett handles his problems makes a huge difference. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the plane case, I'm willing to attribute the 3 different stories to miscommunication, but going behind the back of your team doctors for a different treatment is a big no.
In the end Lefevre is the team manager, not the team psychologist. If your star rider behaves like this to skip the biggest race of the season, it's not wrong of him to speak up and explain what happened to the public. I prefer these direct accusations over the Hirschi BS story where nobody really looked good.
Ollfardh wrote:
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Is it? I mean, even if these things are true, which they well might be, and you come to the conclusion that he has a fear of failure, it's still not the correct choice to make those thoughts public, at least in my opinion. It would then be your job to work with the rider to overcome his issues, if not personally then by referring him to someone whose job it is. Even if he leaves at the end of the year, you're still responsible for him at the moment. And if he's out not because of that but because of disciplinary reasons or because the team doesn't trust him, then Lefevere should say exactly that.
This is saying nothing about whether it was actually the correct choice to leave Bennett out of the squad. The reasons may be valid. The way Lefevere dealt with it doesn't seem okay to me.
I mostly disagree with that. Lefevre has 29 other riders and team sponsors to take care off, he can't let this pass because it's mental problems. The way Bennett handles his problems makes a huge difference. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the plane case, I'm willing to attribute the 3 different stories to miscommunication, but going behind the back of your team doctors for a different treatment is a big no.
In the end Lefevre is the team manager, not the team psychologist. If your star rider behaves like this to skip the biggest race of the season, it's not wrong of him to speak up and explain what happened to the public. I prefer these direct accusations over the Hirschi BS story where nobody really looked good.
I think getting a 2nd opinion from a doctor who might not be as motivated to put the teams interests first, but the individuals first makes a lot of sense for a top athelete (or any athlete really). How many times have stories come out where a rider was rushed by a team doctor when sponsorship money etc. is at play.
Putting blame on a rider for that seems silly. Theres usually a reason for a rider having mistrust in a team doctor anyway, and with the way Lefevere is speaking about Bennett in public, and not in any way protecting him or sticking up for him I can see why he probably has that view. It doesn't come from nowhere and it really seems like Lefevere has already decided not to support Bennett in any way.
Ollfardh wrote:
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Is it? I mean, even if these things are true, which they well might be, and you come to the conclusion that he has a fear of failure, it's still not the correct choice to make those thoughts public, at least in my opinion. It would then be your job to work with the rider to overcome his issues, if not personally then by referring him to someone whose job it is. Even if he leaves at the end of the year, you're still responsible for him at the moment. And if he's out not because of that but because of disciplinary reasons or because the team doesn't trust him, then Lefevere should say exactly that.
This is saying nothing about whether it was actually the correct choice to leave Bennett out of the squad. The reasons may be valid. The way Lefevere dealt with it doesn't seem okay to me.
I mostly disagree with that. Lefevre has 29 other riders and team sponsors to take care off, he can't let this pass because it's mental problems. The way Bennett handles his problems makes a huge difference. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the plane case, I'm willing to attribute the 3 different stories to miscommunication, but going behind the back of your team doctors for a different treatment is a big no.
In the end Lefevre is the team manager, not the team psychologist. If your star rider behaves like this to skip the biggest race of the season, it's not wrong of him to speak up and explain what happened to the public. I prefer these direct accusations over the Hirschi BS story where nobody really looked good.
I mean, arguably no one looks good here either I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, I agree that it's not Lefevere's personal task to make sure Bennett's alright, and I also agree that Bennett certainly bears some responsibility here if those reports are true. And if Bennett himself stands firm that it's "just a fitness issue", I don't fault Lefevere to speak out against that.
But on the other hand, what do any of the other riders or the sponsors gain from Lefevere speculating that Bennett is, essentially, mentally weak? That's what I meant: If you really feel like the reason all these reported "issues" kept on happening is that Bennett just isn't in the right place mentally, then in my mind it's your obligation as a team manager to work with him on that. And if it's a "fake" reason, it's a really bad one.
If you want to make clear that the reason is, at least in part, not due to Bennett not feeling in peak shape, maybe as a message to other riders that this behavior isn't tolerated, cite disciplinary reasons or Bennett not meeting obligations (ideally while still working with Bennett on any potential issues). But this "well, I can't prove it, but you know guys, he just doesn't have it in him" while (I assume) leaking these stories is just a really bad way to deal with it, imo.
Ollfardh wrote:
If these things are true, it's a very different story.
Is it? I mean, even if these things are true, which they well might be, and you come to the conclusion that he has a fear of failure, it's still not the correct choice to make those thoughts public, at least in my opinion. It would then be your job to work with the rider to overcome his issues, if not personally then by referring him to someone whose job it is. Even if he leaves at the end of the year, you're still responsible for him at the moment. And if he's out not because of that but because of disciplinary reasons or because the team doesn't trust him, then Lefevere should say exactly that.
This is saying nothing about whether it was actually the correct choice to leave Bennett out of the squad. The reasons may be valid. The way Lefevere dealt with it doesn't seem okay to me.
I mostly disagree with that. Lefevre has 29 other riders and team sponsors to take care off, he can't let this pass because it's mental problems. The way Bennett handles his problems makes a huge difference. I'll give him the benefit of the doubt on the plane case, I'm willing to attribute the 3 different stories to miscommunication, but going behind the back of your team doctors for a different treatment is a big no.
In the end Lefevre is the team manager, not the team psychologist. If your star rider behaves like this to skip the biggest race of the season, it's not wrong of him to speak up and explain what happened to the public. I prefer these direct accusations over the Hirschi BS story where nobody really looked good.
I think getting a 2nd opinion from a doctor who might not be as motivated to put the teams interests first, but the individuals first makes a lot of sense for a top athelete (or any athlete really). How many times have stories come out where a rider was rushed by a team doctor when sponsorship money etc. is at play.
Putting blame on a rider for that seems silly. Theres usually a reason for a rider having mistrust in a team doctor anyway, and with the way Lefevere is speaking about Bennett in public, and not in any way protecting him or sticking up for him I can see why he probably has that view. It doesn't come from nowhere and it really seems like Lefevere has already decided not to support Bennett in any way.
But it was the opposite here, the team wanted him to rest and his second opinion told him to train, which made his injury worse.
Also Lefevre was "200%" behind Bennett last week, I don't think it was a lingering issue.
I'm a bit torn. On the one hand, I agree that it's not Lefevere's personal task to make sure Bennett's alright, and I also agree that Bennett certainly bears some responsibility here if those reports are true. And if Bennett himself stands firm that it's "just a fitness issue", I don't fault Lefevere to speak out against that. 
