After a promising start to the year, Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere is frustrated with the development of his young Belgian Wouter Weylandt.
Lefevere told Nieuwsblad.be that “he had expected more” from the promising young rider when questioned about his absence from the Vuelta start list. Weylandt won the 146km 17th stage of last year’s race from Zamora to Valladolid.
The early classics went well for the talented young rider, but Lefevere says nothing materialized for the rest of the season, so he has been left off of the start list. Weylandt is unhappy that he doesn’t have the opportunity to prove himself, but on a team like Quick-Step you Lefevere made it clear that you are expected to make your own.
“If he wins three stages of the Eneco Tour we may send him to the Vuelta,” quipped Lefevere.
In 2007 Weylandt won a stage of the race that takes place on the roads of Holland and Belgium, but it’s safe to say that he won’t take part of Spain’s Grand Tour. Whether he will remain with Belgium’s biggest team is uncertain.