The story is as old as professional sport. A star signs a lucrative contract only to put in poor performances attributed to a penchant for late-night festivities.
But in the case of Julian Alaphilippe — the George Best of French cycling — the alcohol and parties are not entirely his fault, at least in the eyes of Patrick Lefevere, the manager of Belgium’s Soudal Quick-Step team, for which Alaphilippe rides.
In an interview that has sparked claims of “gross misogyny” and harassment, Lefevere suggested that if the immensely talented Alaphilippe had gone off the rails, it was his partner, Marion Rousse, 32, who was to blame.
Rousse, a former cyclist who has gone on to become a popular television commentator, as well as the director of the women’s Tour de France race, was indignant. She issued a scathing statement on social media, demanding that Lefevere stay out of her private life. She pointed out that, with a three-year-old son, she and Alaphilippe, 31, invariably go to bed early.
The row is reminiscent of Sir Alex Ferguson’s claim that David Beckham’s performances waned at Manchester United under the influence of Victoria, his wife.
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Causette, a feminist magazine, attributed Lefevere’s attack to the patriarchal notion that if men make mistakes, women are to blame. “Behind Patrick Lefevere’s sexist comments, we can see, barely hidden, the stereotype of the odious, castrating she-devil who is accused of exerting … a bad influence on her guy,” it said.
Alaphilippe, a double world road champion and a household name in cycling-mad France, has been with the Soudal Quick-Step team for a decade, signing a new contract three years ago that reportedly earns him an annual €2.3 million. However, his performances have declined to such an extent that he is set to miss this summer’s Tour de France.
“Julian is a good guy but after signing his mega-contract, he has not done the business,” said Lefevere in an interview with Humo, the Belgian magazine.
“When you get older, you need to take care of yourself. With him, there are too many parties and too much alcohol.” He added: “Julian is seriously under Marion’s heel, too much perhaps.”
Rousse retorted: “It’s inadmissible to attack our private life as he has done. No, I don’t drink alcohol, never. He’s wrong about the parties too because with a little child of three, we prefer to be in good form in the morning.”
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Lefevere, 69, a former Belgian cyclist, offered a partial apology, although he ended up making matters worse with a suggestion that Alaphilippe was a “wild man” who, like a “young dog”, needed to be kept under control. He seemed to imply that Rousse did not know when to keep her man on a tight lead and when to allow him a little freedom.
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“I said I wanted him to change his behaviour,” he said. “If Mrs Marion [sic] feels that her private life is under attack, that’s her problem. It’s good that she is there to help him but from time to time you need to let go of the lead. I can … say what I want. I pay him, and very well.”
Alaphilippe gave a press conference on Thursday ahead of the Het Nieuwsblad race in Belgium on Saturday. He said he was in a “top frame of mind”, adding: “I want to become the best version of myself again. I am working hard for that.” He was accompanied by Lefevere, who said Alaphilippe would not answer any questions about the controversy.
Causette sprung to Rousse’s defence. “At 31, Julian Alaphilippe is a big boy capable of looking after himself and his career,” the magazine said. “Marion Rousse is not his manager or his primary school teacher and even less his mother.”
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Libération, the left-wing French newspaper, denounced Lefevere’s “gross misogyny” while Pascal Chanteur, chairman of the French national union of professional cyclists, accused him of harassment. “If this had happened in an ordinary company, the employee would have been entitled to file a lawsuit,” he said.
Not everyone was behind Rousse, however. In a social media post, Bettina Pesce, the girlfriend of Philippe Gilbert, a Belgian cyclist and Alaphilippe’s former teammate, told Rousse that Lefevere had “simply said out loud … what a lot of people around you think in private”.
She added that Alaphilippe was “paid a fortune” and “had to account for himself to his boss”.
