Our team was rewarded with three trophies at the prestigious gala held Wednesday evening.
Patrick Lefevere, the mastermind that has made Quick-Step Floors one of the most successful teams in the history of the sport, was named Best Manager of 2018, after a season that can be easily labeled as the best in the history of our squad, who won a staggering 76 races (including the World TTT Championships, two Monuments and 13 Grand Tour stages) and the World Tour team classification, averaging a victory every four days with 15 different riders.
For Patrick Lefevere, it was the sixth Best Manager trophy he collected at Kristallen Fiets, following the distinctions of 2000, 2004, 2006, 2013 and 2017, an astonishing haul which puts him into first place all-time.
One of the unsung heroes of 2018, Tim Declercq was the recipient of the Best Helper award, which was won by a Quick-Step Floors rider without interruption since 2012; in his second season with the squad, 29-year-old Tim played an important role in 16 of our outfit's wins, from February to October, taking over the front of the peloton and relentlessly setting the pace for countless hours, eating the escapees for breakfast and lunch, each time oblivious to pain, inclement weather or any other hurdles that stood between him and a job well done.
The prodigiously talented Remco Evenepoel – who will make his pro debut next year – went home with the Best Young Rider trophy, after getting the better of his rivals and being in a league of his own throughout the entire 2018 season, capturing both World Championships in spectacular fashion, in addition to a plethora of other races which landed in his palmares, from Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne and Chrono des Nations to Course de la Paix and Giro della Lunigiana.
Quick-Step Floors' three trophies at the Kristallen Fiets Gala came just a few weeks after Yves Lampaert was rewarded with the "Flandrien of the Year" prize, in recognition of his extremely impressive season that saw him win the Belgian Title, the gold medal at the World Team Time Trial Championships and a second Dwars door Vlaanderen.
Photo credit: ©Sigfrid Eggers
