Patrick Lefevere is back on the attack. In his latest column, the former CEO of Soudal-Quick Step has pointed the finger at what he considers the "new rich" of the World Tour: Lidl-Trek and Red Bull–BORA-hansgrohe. Two teams with enormous budgets, according to him, but not always with equally clear and well-focused ideas.

His criticisms focus on three main issues: the departure of Luca Guercilena from Lidl-Trek, the appointment of Andy Schleck as CEO of the team, and the "overabundance" of sporting directors at Red Bull-BORA, with figures of the caliber of Sven Vanthourenhout being used on minor races.

Lefevere did not mince words in commenting on the press release with which Lidl-Trek said goodbye to general manager Luca Guercilena: «Once there was the assassination of Julius Caesar, now there is the press release with which Lidl-Trek said goodbye to general manager Luca Guercilena this week: "We thank him for his vision, his leadership and his passion... blah blah blah". It's not a literal stab in the back, but it remains a cowardly gesture nonetheless, obviously. I heard he still had two years left on his contract, so I hope the "severance package" is adequate».

What is happening in the German team, according to the Belgian, is a genuine revolution from above, guided by the Schwarz Group, Lidl's parent company. The implicit message: lots of money invested, results deemed insufficient, and now a radical restructuring begins.

Lefevere wanted to emphasize that Guercilena is not just any name to him: «Luca and I have known each other for a long time: I brought him with me in 1996, to the Mapei training center, where he later trained young talents like Fabian Cancellara and Filippo Pozzato. I thought he was a good coach, but when he wanted to become team manager at Davitamon-Quick Step, I opposed it. Luca was trained as a carabiniere and he's made that way: he's strict, obedient to authority and always direct. In the team car, in the chaos of the race, those are not exactly great qualities».

Words that mix gratitude and criticism, as often happens in his columns: respect for the past, but also clear judgment on roles and competencies.

For Lefevere, Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-BORA are today the richest teams in the group, and this does not automatically lead to the best decisions: «Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-BORA-hansgrohe are the new rich of the group and they behave as such: they spend a lot of money on everything that is fashionable, but the question is whether all of this is coherent».

The Flemish manager gave the example of when he inquired about Juan Ayuso (at the time with UAE Team Emirates): «As CEO of Soudal-Quick Step, I inquired about Juan Ayuso of UAE Team Emirates. "Impossible", replied sporting director Joxean Matxin, "it would cost at least fifteen million euros". Not really our style, but a few months later Ayuso was at Lidl-Trek». Lefevere also cites the transfer of Derek Gee, implying enormous figures, and denounces a market in which teams with larger budgets "shoot high" just to have the names of the moment.

The other team in his sights is Red Bull–BORA-hansgrohe, in which Lefevere highlights a technical structure that is far too crowded: «There are so many sporting directors around Red Bull that they get in each other's way».

The symbolic case, for him, is the use of Sven Vanthourenhout, former technical commissioner of the Belgian national team, as team manager at the Tour de Wallonie: «Sven Vanthourenhout as team manager at the Tour de Wallonie, for heaven's sake: isn't he overqualified for that role?»

The underlying idea is that an abundance of resources leads to multiplying roles and figures, but not necessarily to improving responsibilities or the quality of sporting decisions.

Another target in the Column is the appointment of Andy Schleck as new CEO of Lidl-Trek. Lefevere admits he doesn't know him well, but doesn't hide his skepticism: «How much wisdom and evaluation were necessary for the appointment of Andy Schleck as new CEO? I admit I don't know him personally and that he deserves a chance to prove me wrong, but when I met him at the Tour in recent years as the face of Skoda, I always saw him as a very nice person, but never as a CEO».

The parallel is with many entrepreneurs who enter sport without real technical background. Behind the comment is a precise message: elite cycling, for Lefevere, is not the place to improvise key roles just because you have a great image or great sponsors.

One of the harshest passages is when the Belgian speaks of modernism: the obsession with details and trends, at the expense of the human foundations of a team. «The most typical symptom of modernism is giving importance to details while forgetting the basics. The basics are people, in any case. If Lidl-Trek moves its center from Deinze to Germany, it forces Belgian staff—and there are many of them—to relocate or spend half the day in the car. And then they would lose a lot of people.»

At the end of his comment, Lefevere says he is most struck by the timing of the upheaval at Lidl-Trek: «What I find most surprising is the timing of the entire operation. Such an important game of musical chairs a month before the Tour de France. If Juan Ayuso or Mattias Skjelmose manage to achieve something, it will be despite the reorganization. Certainly not because of it.»

In other words, any success of the team's leaders will be, according to him, the fruit of their individual class and work already done, not of the ongoing reshuffling.

Certainly, the message is clear: money and image are not enough, and to make a team great, Lefevere asserts the importance of technical expertise, stability, people management and well-considered choices over time. In his sights this week are Lidl-Trek and Red Bull-BORA. But perhaps the real issue is the future of cycling in an era where economic power risks dictating sporting strategies as well.