Cycling: With 25 wins this season, Team Lotto Soudal can be more than satisfied with 2017. The German André Greipel also played his part. In addition to him, the Belgians are also relying primarily on Tim Wellens and Tiesj Benoot in 2018.
departures
Kris Boeckmans (Vital Concept)
Sean De Bie (Veranda's Willems-Crélan)
Bart De Clercq (Wanty Groupe Gobert)
Tony Gallopin (Ag2r La Mondiale)
Jurgen Roelandts (BMC)
Rafael Valls (Movistar)
Louis Vervaeke (Sunweb)
Additions
Victor Campanaerts (Lotto NL-Jumbo)
Jens Keukeleire (Orica Scott)
Bjorg Lambrecht (Lotto Soudal U23)
Lawrence Naesen (WB Veranclassic-Aquality Protect)
Ham Vanhoucke (Lotto Soudal U23)
Team 2018
ARMY Sander
BAK Lars Ytting
BENOOT Tiesj
CAMPENAERTS Victor
BY BUYST Jasper
DE GENDT Thomas
DEBUSCISSORS Jens
FRISON Frederic
GREIPEL Andre
HANSEN Adam
HOFLAND Moreno
KEUKELEIRE Jens
LAMBRECHT Bjorg
MAES Nikolas
MARCZYNSKI Tomasz
MERTZ Remy
MONFORT maxim
NAESEN Lawrence
SHAW James
SIEBERG Marcel
VAN DER SANDE Tosh
VANENDERT Jelle
VANHOUCKE Harm (Since 2018-07-01)
WALLAY'S Jelle
WELLS Tim
WOUTERS Enzo
Many daily wins by Lotto Soudal
Tim Wells, tony gallopin, Tiesj Benoot and André Greipel scored the most points in the UCI WorldTour for Team Lotto Soudal in 2017. However, the victories of other pilots are particularly memorable. The team won four sections at the Vuelta a Espana. The Stages #6 and #12 went to Tomasz Marczynski. Sander Army secured that 18th part and the experienced Thomas De Gent won the directly a day later 19th stage. These stats alone show that Lotto Soudal has a balanced squad and can be up front on any terrain. Unfortunately, André Greipel caught one of his weaker years. The consistency was there, but absolute top results in important races remained a rarity. While he unfortunately went empty-handed at the Tour de France, he won it back in May 2th stage of the Giro d'Italia and won the pink jersey.
Wellens and Benoot can still explode
Despite the world-class sprinter André Greipel, the star of the Belgian team is of course a Belgian: At 26, Tim Wellens is only now reaching the prime of cycling. 2017 was his strongest year to date. At the Binck Bank Tour he won a stage and finished second overall. He secured the GP de Wallonie and the overall ranking of the Tour of Guangxi at the end of the season. He is certainly capable of winning a monument in the future or even developing towards a classification driver. Due to the transfers, the Lotto Soudal team has thinned out the squad a bit. However, some quality was lost in the process. Especially with Jürgen Roelandts, Bart De Clercq and Tony Gallopin, the team loses a lot of experience. At least they secured a top time trialist in Victor Campanaerts. All in all, the main focus in the coming season will be on stage wins in grand tours and successes in one-day classics. With Greipel, Wellens and Benoot, these goals should be achievable.
Leave a Comment