Lotto's
management is very much a Belgian team, despite the presence of a number of
foreign riders. “Our project will remain Belgian,” sports director Marc
Sergeant said. “But if you want to count in the World Tour, you also need
foreigners. It's that simple at the top of the game.”
Lotto split
with Omega Pharma earlier this year with the stated purpose of
establishing a Belgian team, especially hoping to encourage young Belgian
riders. With Tosh Van der Sande, Gaetan Bille, Jonas Vangenechten, Sander
Cordeel and Dennis Vanendert there are five Belgian neo-pros on the team. It's
not that we are ignoring the youth. On the contrary, young riders remain
key for Lotto.
A one-hundred
percent Belgian team is impossible in the current international cycling scene. For
some of the necessities you have to go abroad. Andre Greipel is the team's
most prominent non-Belgian. He is the highest ranking rider of the team, and
that is crucial for Lotto’s place in the Top 15 World Tour Teams.
With 18 of
the 27 riders being Belgian, we did very well and we keep the image of a Belgian
team. We are a Belgian team.
When you
are building a Belgian team, you also need Belgian bicycles. Lotto has a
collaboration with the Belgium based Ridley. They will be providing the team
with their top 3 bikes: Noah Fast, Helium and Dean (for time trials). We hope
that this collaboration will lead us to success in the following three seasons.
The team
captains remain – mostly – Belgian. “In the spring races, we believe strongly
in Jürgen Roelandts and I think the interplay between him and Greipel can give
good results,” Sergeant said. “For the grand tours, we will draw on our Belgian
riders. Many of them are planned to help Jurgen Van den Broeck and Jelle
Vanendert in the mountains.”