Patrick Lefevere wants to have reigning cyclocross world champion Zdenek Stybar on his Quick Step team at all costs. Lefevere is even considering buying the Telenet-Fidea team for which Stybar is currently racing. Telenet-Fidea team manager Hans van Kasteren is not generally opposed to the idea.
Lefevere is as much determined to sign Stybar as the Czech cross star wants to move over to the powerful Quick Step team. While the negotiations are still going, Lefevere seems to count on the fact that in the end there will be a done deal. "He will come anyway," Lefevere told Belgian newspaper Gazet van Antwerpen.
Stybar's contract still runs until the end of February, end of the cross season. Lefevere seems to see three ways to resolve the deadlock situation. One option is that there will be an agreement soon. The second option is that the courts will settle the case.
Lefevere now put a third option on the table. "I'd like to buy his team and let it run as a continental team under its current name. But I am not getting any concrete answers," Lefevere said.
Van Kasteren stops as team manager at the end of the season, weighing many options for the future. "First I will negotiate the contracts with the racers. Afterwards I will concern myself with the future of the team."