Cycling
The UCI ethics committee has imposed a suspended fine of 20,000 Swiss francs (20,800 euros) on Patrick Lefevere, the CEO of Soudal Quick-Step, for “derogatory comments about women”.
The International Cycling Union (UCI) announced in a statement that the team boss of Soudal Quick-Step will be fined. “Following a report on Mr. Patrick Lefevere, general manager of the UCI WorldTeam Soudal Quick-Step, for public statements considered derogatory towards women, the Ethics Commission has confirmed that violations against Article 5 have been committed in two cases and 6.1 of the Code of Ethics,” it says
The UCI demands that Lefevere make a public statement in which he acknowledges that his statements were inappropriate and in which he apologizes. If he does not do so, Lefevere will be fined 20,000 Swiss Francs. If he does publicly apologize and is not guilty of a similar violation of the UCI Code of Ethics in the next three years, the fine will be suspended.
“I am not the OCMW”
The UCI communique does not make it clear for which statements Lefevere will be fined. But according to the Nieuwsblad he would be punished for statements made in two interviews. For example, in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws when asked whether he would start with a women’s team, he replied: “I am not the OCMW.”
In the Nieuwsblad, Lefevere made a misogynistic comment in a passage about his ex-rider Sam Bennett. “Leaving Bora-Hansgrohe and telling everyone that he was being bullied there and was almost depressed and bankrupt as a result, only to simply return fourteen months later. It is the same as ladies who still return home after intimate partner violence,” he said.(jv)
