QuickStep manager at his wit’s end in regards to embattled rider
The Iljo Keisse saga has slowly become the biggest doping judicial process debacle in history and now, and now, at the most contentious time of all, it seems that Keisse’s support from his QuickStep team may be waning.
QuickStep manager, Patrick Lefevere, supports the Belgian sprinter and track specialist and impressively, even took on Keisse for the 2011 season after an almost complete wash last year. For all of the faith in Keisse, it seems there’s a limit in what Lefevere can deal with, and the very real prospect of employing a rider that can only race in Belgium is just not acceptable to the stern manager.
“To put it brutally, I’m only in need of an Iljo Keisse without problems. I do not need a rider who I can only race in Belgium. So it is better that he – without sounding demeaning – races for a team like Veranda Willems or Topsport Vlaanderen,” said the white-haired Belgian to feltet.dk.
There’s no questioning Keisse’s possibilities on the road. He is without a doubt one of the more promising prospects on both the track and the road in Belgium right now, but bad luck and his positives for cathine and HCT at the 2008 Gent Six Day have not allowed for much in the way of coming good on his immense promise in the past couple of years. Lefevere, for his part, does not hold anything against Keisse, but doesn’t know what else to do.
“I feel deceived. Not by Iljo, on the contrary. When I considered hiring him [for 2010], I asked our team doctor, Yvan Vanmol, for advice, and he said that the boy was innocent. Ok, I gave him a contract, whereupon, he crashed at the World Track Championships. When he could finally ride again, the problems started. Then he was suspended. Then he wasn’t. Then he was suspended again. Just before New Year’s I thought that the matter was finally taken care of and that the UCI would leave him in peace. But no.”
While Keisse’s fight has become quite the story to follow, it doesn’t appear that there’s much hope for the 28 year old. The UCI might not quite have the upper hand at the moment, but it only seems a matter of time before they can reassert control over the Keisse case, and when that happens, Lefevere’s patience will probably have run its course.