Quick-Step Alphavinil's team manager used carrots and sticks, urging Remco Evenpole to aim high in the Grand Tours, while taking a more critical approach to Julien Alaphilippe after his injury-plagued 2022 season. He chose to motivate team leaders with his approach.

Lefebvre spent a week at the Quick Step Alfavinir training camp in Calpe, Spain, where players and staff began hard work in preparation for the rapidly approaching new season.

The Belgian team will be known as Sourdal Quickstep from 2023, and the change in sponsorship has raised expectations as well as the team's budget. Evenpoel won Liège-Bastogne-Liège, the Vuelta a España, and the world title, but Lefebvre's team struggled in the cobbled classics, and Alaphilippe's high-speed crash in the Liège-Bastogne-Liège Tour de France missed out.

Lefebvre was not known for his diplomatic nature, and in a long interview with the Belgian newspaper La Dernière Heure, he used blunt language to motivate Alaphilippe and kind words to encourage Evenpoel.

Alaphilippe won world titles in 2020 and 2021, but told Cycling News that 2022 was the hardest season of his career.

He started the year chasing form after missing an important training camp due to a bad cold. He then crashed in a crosswind at Strade Bianche. He was then involved in a terrible high-speed crash at Liège-Bastogne-Liège. He missed the Tour de France with two ribs, a broken scapula, and a punctured lung, and also crashed out of the Vuelta a España.

Lefebvre knows all about that. He is confident that Alaphilippe will be able to perform in the spring classics, but he expects a lot from the French rider in 2023.

"I want him to recover. He owes me revenge. Julien has a champion's salary, but he has to make sure he is still a champion," Lefebvre said, using his words firmly as a motivational stick.

"I don't care that he is no longer world champion, but he hasn't won much in the last few years. Sure, he's had a lot of bad luck, but it's always the same, good luck or bad luck."

Lefebvre was more circumspect when talking about Evenpole. The Belgian has already stated that he will target the 2023 Giro d'Italia and postpone the Tour until 2024.

"We don't want to cut corners with Lemko and neither does he. He has said that his goal is to one day be the star of the Tour de France, but first he will compete in the Vuelta and the Giro. He's sticking to that and that's fine," Lefebvre told La Dernière Heure in praise of the young team leader.

"Winning the Tour de France is no longer the only requirement for being one of the best riders in the peloton. Lemko can defend himself in all terrains, except for the group sprints. For me, he will one day be the star of the Flanders Classics."

Lefebvre admitted that reports that Ineos Grenadiers had tried to lure out Evenpoel were true. In October, however, he told Cycling News that he had signed the young Belgian to a five-year contract and had successfully built the next phase of the team around him.

"People sometimes make fun of me, but with a five-year contract I can handle any scenario. 'In February 2021 I signed a contract with Remco that runs through 2026. The only thing I have to do is pay it."

"If he had left, I would be the richest of the bunch, but I'm really glad he didn't leave," Lefebvre now tells La Dernière Heure, joking about what the rainbow jersey added to the team.

"There are lots of bonuses and bonuses. But it gives the whole team a lot of responsibility and confidence." "

Evenpoel had to return from a nasty hip fracture in 2021 and struggled to reach his full potential. He only returned to his best when he won Liège-Bastogne-Liège and was transformed by the time he started the Vuelta a España.

Lefebvre does not forget that Evenpoel is only 22 years old, but like many, he has noticed a new maturity in him.

"He's going faster than I thought he would, ahead of schedule. 'He's a winner, but probably won't look good if he has a bad day. But he'll be fine. Lemko is calm, composed, and down to earth. But he is a winner. Lemko only thinks about winning. That's what drives him

"Yes, but he stays humble and says what he wants and feels. The beautiful thing is that he always thanks his team a lot. It makes us all hungry for him."