General manager Patrick Lefevere at the Omega Pharma-Quick Step Cycling Team press conference(Image credit: Photopress.be)
Team Manager Patrick Lefevere and French cyclist Sylvain Chavanel speak during the team presentation of Quick-Step.(Image credit: AFP)
Sylvain Chavanel, Niki Terpstra and Koen de Kort on the podium of Dwars Door Vlaanderen(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Niki Terpstra had nearly a minute on the chasers and had plenty of time to celebrate his Dwars door Vlaanderen victory(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Less than three months into the season and Omega Pharma-QuickStep’s success shows no sign of abating after Niki Terpstra picked up the biggest win of his career at Dwars Door Vlaanderen on Wednesday. As the team’s general manager, Patrick Lefevere, stepped out from his team car at the finish, he could barely hide his pleasure. A total of 19 wins and counting make his team the most successful squad of 2012, and after two disappointing years and no Monument wins since 2009, Lefevere’s men look well-placed to carry their form into the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.
With Boonen at home with his feet up, the responsibility for results in Waregem fell to Sylvain Chavanel and Terpstra. Both men made it into the main selection of the race after 100 kilometres of racing and were clearly in a league of their own. On the Oude Kwaremont, Chavanel stretched the escape move to almost breaking point before Terpstra launched his move. Jelle Wallays briefly held his wheel before relenting and finishing 12th.
In this exclusive interview with Cyclingnews, Patrick Lefevere talks about his team’s win in Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and also discusses Terpstra’s form and chances for the remainder of the Classics.
Last season Terpstra was an important part of QuickStep’s Classics contingent before a crash in de Panne saw him ruled out for several weeks with a broken collar bone. With a superb win under his belt, Lefevere has yet another card to play this spring.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
