Patrick Lefevere Victim Blames Women on National Television. When Will He Just Go Away?

"Hearst Magazines and Yahoo may earn commission or revenue on some items through these links."

Soudal Quickstep team manager Patrick Lefevere is known for being an outspoken critic of quite a few things in cycling, ranging from his strong feelings about the UCI to his “take” on women’s cycling.

His comments and opinions over the years have earned him a well-deserved reputation as one of the sport's most vocal misogynists.

Last week, he took his sexist sentiments up a notch when he went on a Belgian news show and said that women are being sexually harassed more because they’re out drinking.

“Women used to not drink. Now they drink as much as we do. Not everyone is good at it, sometimes they tread on thin ice,” Lefevere said on Belgian news show, VRT’s evening show, De Afspraak. (Note, this has been translated from the original Dutch comments: “Vroeger dronken vrouwen niet. Nu drinken ze evenvell als wij. Niet iedereen kan er goed tegen, soms begeven ze zich op glad ijs.”)

He was responding to a guest who asserted that it was unsafe for women to be on the street alone after dark.

The sexism translates

Victim blaming is a hard yikes no matter what language it’s in. And this particular instance of it was made even more egregious since his interview took place on—with deepest of irony—International Women’s Day.

You can watch the (Dutch) video with some satiric edits thrown in here (the sexism translates the language barrier, just by looking at the news anchor's expression):

[twitter align='center' id='1634492327270969345' username='AlexanderDeCro1']https://twitter.com/AlexanderDeCro1/status/1634492327270969345[/twitter]

A long history of misogyny

This isn’t the first time Lefevere has openly insulted women or women’s cycling, or seemingly defended sexual harassment of women.

Last month, he told Belgium’s De Krant van West-Vlaanderen that “I certainly believe in the future of women’s cycling. The only problem is that it’s being pushed artificially. Look at the minimum wages, 60.000€/year on WT level. I grant it to them, but some aren’t worth that.”

As one cycling fan put it: “How someone can publicly say such gruesome things and still be general manager of a team will forever remain a mystery to me. As a sponsor, I would absolutely not want to be associated with such statements.”

Lefevere should step down and step aside

Cycling fans are calling for an apology and, more importantly, for misogynistic dinosaurs like Lefevere either to change their ways or exit the cycling industry and the sport.

We’ve seen examples of people like Lefevre being held accountable and forced out of other sports because of their bigotry. Jon Gruden, an ex-NFL coach, is a recent example that comes to mind.

Considering how Patrick Lefevere seems to be able to operate as an outright misogynist and still keep his job managing one of the biggest cycling teams in the world makes it clear that our sport of cycling still has a long way to go to reach equality.

You Might Also Like

• The Right Chain Lube Can Save You Thousands

• Everything You Need to Start E-Bike Commuting

• 7 Things You Should Do After Every Rainy Ride