Patrick Lefevere says he needs another sponsor if he's to sign Peter Sagan
While Quick-Step has extended its sponsorship for another six years, Deceuninck has pulled out
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Boss of Belgian team Deceuninck - Quick-Step, Patrick Lefevere has said that he needs another title sponsor to up his budget if he wants to sign Peter Sagan for the 2022 season.
This news comes after it was announced that Deceuninck will not be continuing its sponsorship of the team after three years, whereas Quick-Step has extended for another six.
It has been rumoured for some time that Sagan could be leaving the German squad of Bora-Hansgrohe and now it has been confirmed that there are talks with Lefevere's team.
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Sagan has one of the highest wages of any professional cyclist, so to be able to afford him, Lefevere has said he needs another main sponsor alongside Quick-Step, who are unable to up their budget for the team.
Speaking to Het Laatse Nieuws (opens in new tab), Lefevere said: "I am working on a six-year project, and not on my budget for 2022 alone. Those are two things. Quick-Step has now extended.
"It’s important that someone makes the first step. Other sponsors will likely follow now. I hope the results of [Julian] Alaphilippe and [Remco] Evenepoel inspire new sponsors to come on board."
Signing Sagan would also likely entail signing his brother Juraj as well as Maciej Bodnar, Daniel Oss, a press officer, soigneur and his mechanic which, according to Het Laatse Nieuws, all comes to around eight million euros with Sagan himself at five and half million.
"I can’t make eight million magically appear, I also don’t want a team within my team," Lefevere said. "If I want to be able to afford Sagan, I will have to talk to my sponsors again. If they are not ready to add the extra money, I can’t take him.”
Sagan, if signed, will likely fill the gap left by Sam Bennett who is likely returning to Bora-Hansgrohe now that both Sagan and Pascal Ackermann are leaving, with Ackermann rumoured to be going to UAE Team Emirates, according to La Gazzetta dello Sport journalist Ciro Scognamiglio.
Lefevere confirmed in Het Nieuwsblad earlier this month that Portuguese star João Almeida is also moving on from the Belgian squad in search for a sole-leadership role, but where is not yet known.
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Hi, I'm one of Cycling Weekly's content writers for the web team responsible for writing stories on racing, tech, updating evergreen pages as well as the weekly email newsletter. Proud Yorkshireman from the UK's answer to Flanders, Calderdale, go check out the cobbled climbs!
I started watching cycling back in 2010, before all the hype around London 2012 and Bradley Wiggins at the Tour de France. In fact, it was Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck's battle in the fog up the Tourmalet on stage 17 of the Tour de France.
It took me a few more years to get into the journalism side of things, but I had a good idea I wanted to get into cycling journalism by the end of year nine at school and started doing voluntary work soon after. This got me a chance to go to the London Six Days, Tour de Yorkshire and the Tour of Britain to name a few before eventually joining Eurosport's online team while I was at uni, where I studied journalism. Eurosport gave me the opportunity to work at the world championships in Harrogate back in the awful weather.
After various bar jobs, I managed to get my way into Cycling Weekly in late February of 2020 where I mostly write about racing and everything around that as it's what I specialise in but don't be surprised to see my name on other news stories.
When not writing stories for the site, I don't really switch off my cycling side as I watch every race that is televised as well as being a rider myself and a regular user of the game Pro Cycling Manager. Maybe too regular.
My bike is a well used Specialized Tarmac SL4 when out on my local roads back in West Yorkshire as well as in northern Hampshire with the hills and mountains being my preferred terrain.
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