Thomas De Gendt has said he doesn’t miss Patrick Lefevere’s tweets, after blocking the Decceuninck - Quick-Step boss on social media.
Lefevere recently revealed on Twitter that De Gendt had blocked him on the platform, meaning the pair could not see each other’s tweets.
Lotto-Soudal rider De Gendt has now revealed he blocked his Belgian compatriot in 2014 or 2015, and said he does not feel he’s missing out.
Lefevere is notorious for his outspoken attitude on social media regularly voicing his outrage to cycling incidents involving his team.
Appearing on Sporza’s podcast De Tribune, 34-year-old De Gendt said: “That has been the case since somewhere in 2014 or 2015. The fact that he is only now noticing that says a lot. Actually, I just never unblocked him.
“I don't miss Lefevere's tweets either.
“There was a reason I blocked him. I don't need to unblock him nor do I need kind words from him. That is no longer necessary.”
Lefevere often uses Twitter as a platform to weigh in on events from the cycling world, most recently declaring “bull****” after his sprinter Sam Bennett was relegated by the race during for dangerous sprinting on stage nine of the Vuelta a España.
His tweet sparked a brief argument with Trek-Segafredo’s Luca Guercilena.
Earlier this year, Lefevere also threatened to report Dylan Groenewegen to police over a crash at the Tour of Poland that left Deceuninck sprinter Fabio Jakobsen with serious injuries (Groenewegen has been suspended for nine months by the UCI).
Lefevere was also vocal after Julian Alaphilippe crashed out of the Tour of Flanders when he hit a race motorbike in the final 35km of the Belgian Monument.
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The team boss’s often controversial tweets are sometimes echoed in the tweets of his young star rider Remco Evenepoel, who recently apologised for criticising the motorbike rider in the Tour of Flanders crash.
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