Lizzie Deignan on Patrick Lefevere

[Yoshi]

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/l...-in-him-either

[prototoast]

That's a stupid article, and not for anything Lizzie Deignan said. Whoever wrote the headline tried to make it all about Lefevre Even though the actual article is about so much more. And the author of the article add some strange, unnecessary gloating, as if he wants to editorialize through Ms. Deignan.

Cycling media has a weird Lloyd Braun-esque obsession with Lefevre because he likes to run his mouth. It's easy fodder for a cycling journalist, because he gives them something to write about without having to do any work. Meanwhile, you've got multiple world tour teams run by government officials of countries with atrocious human rights records.

It's lazy clickbait journalism, trying to turn cycling into pro wrestling.

[Spdntrxi]

agreed ^^^^

[KJMUNC]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Meanwhile, you've got multiple world tour teams run by government officials of countries with atrocious human rights records.

It is funny isn't it? Not really of course, but I've always wondered why more people didn't make a bigger deal out of this. Oh right, it's because they fund teams, and teams make the sport go 'round, so don't bite the hand that feeds you....even indirectly. It's an odd sport.

[Mark McM]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Meanwhile, you've got multiple world tour teams run by government officials of countries with atrocious human rights records.

This is called Sports Washing and it is nothing new. It happens in many other sports, including soccer/football, motor sports, boxing, etc. Nations often host the Olympics for Sports Washing reasons. I suppose sports journalists don't talk about it more because that would be biting the hand that feeds.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by Mark McM

This is called Sports Washing and it is nothing new. It happens in many other sports, including soccer/football, motor sports, boxing, etc. Nations often host the Olympics for Sports Washing reasons. I suppose sports journalists don't talk about it more because that would be biting the hand that feeds.

I'm not sure it's even biting the hand that feeds, I think it's mostly laziness. Lefevre has a weekly column in a Belgian newspaper, and talks pretty freely with reporters. He also tends to not choose his words carefully, so a cheap and easy way to churn out an article is to just take something he says and write it up dramatically.

So we get lots of stories on the drama between Lefevre and his riders. Meanwhile, someone like Jonathan Vaughters is much more reserved in what he says publicly, so we don't get nearly as many stories about drama in his team, even if they've been a much bigger trainwreck over the past decade.

Then you get something like this, where you can make a story about gender equity because Lefevre comes out an says he doesn't want to run a women's team. Again, he runs his mouth a lot and says it in a fairly abrasive way, but even as someone who is a proponent of women's pro cycling, it really isn't necessary that the exact same people be in involved in both. Meanwhile, researching the treatment of women in the UAE requires more work than just asking a few questions at a press conference.

[tv_vt]

Lefevere seems to wear a foot in his mouth pretty often lately.