Patrick Lefebvre was awarded the "Kristallen Fietz" coach of the year award in Belgium.

The award came on the heels of the team winning the best team award for the eighth year in a row, Remco Evenpole winning the best rider award, and Dečuninck-Quickstep again topping the UCI world rankings.

"It was another very high quality race. For me it is more important than quantity," Lefevere told Het Laatste Nieuws at the awards ceremony, citing the team's biggest wins in 2019: Omloop, Kuurne, Strade Bianche, Milan-San Remo, E3 Harelbeke Scheldeprijs, Paris-Roubaix, La Flèche Wallonne, Clásica San Sebastián, three stages in the Tour de France, five stages in the Vuelta, and numerous stages in other World Tour races..."

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After 68 wins throughout the year, the team's 2019 win total fell short of the previous year's total of 75, but Lefebvre was still satisfied.

"I'm not complaining. It would have certainly been nice to have a new record. Just that countdown, 'Three more, two more, one more. But it certainly wasn't my original goal."

The success of Deceuninck-QuickStep has been such that despite losing star riders every year, Lefebvre has always managed to find replacements.

This winter, Paris-Roubaix champion Philippe Gilbert, European road race champion Elia Viviani, and GC rider Enric Mas moved on, and in 2017 and 2018, Dan Martin, Marcel Kittel, Matteo Trentin, Niki Terpstra, and Fernando Gaviria left as big riders.

"I am especially proud that I have always succeeded in gathering the best talent around me," Lefebvre told Sporza. 'This is art. Sometimes I have to let go of good players like Philippe Gilbert for budgetary reasons, but I always succeed in finding a replacement who does not disappoint.

"Of course we also have a lot of ambition: for 14 years in a row we were the best team in the world, the winningest team. I'm proud of that. The ball is in their court."

Lefebvre also hinted that he is considering retirement: at 64, he is eligible to retire when he turns 65 next January. But he will remain active for at least a few more years, he said.

"I could have retired in January 2019. I refused to do that," he told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper.

"I have a contract until December 2021 and several more options. It's not one person's job to take over for me, it's two or three. I have read that Tom Bohnen is interested. With his talent and charisma, it would be possible."

"I definitely don't want people to say, 'Oh, here comes that old one again. I'm also considering the role of board president [in the future]. Then I would give advice, but I wouldn't feel obligated to go to the races every day.

"Yes, I will finally get something back from the country I've worked for all my life," he told Sporza of his retirement and pension prospects.

"But in reality, not much will change. It keeps me young. A lot of people think I'm young, but maybe they just want to charm me."