Cycling: The presentation of the team with which the German continental team Lotto Kern-Haus will start the 25 season took place on January 2018th at the headquarters of the main sponsor Kern-Haus in Ransbach-Baumbach. The racing team, which was founded in 2014, is now entering its fifth season. Velomotion will accompany the team throughout the season as official media partner.
After strong successes last year with the first four places in the Rad-Bundesliga overall standings and victories in the German championships in team time trials and on the mountain, it will of course be very difficult to repeat or even top these successes, but the team has changed Manager Florian Monreal is properly positioned and would like to build on the results of 2017.
"We have a strong squad and don't want to give up the titles and victories we've won without a fight. We also want to present ourselves well on the Germany tour, which was held again for the first time in 2018. We are optimistic about receiving an invitation," said Monreal.
The squad for 2018 has changed a bit, there are 13 riders in the squad. After the departure of Raphael Freienstein, Joshua Huppertz will be even more important in the coming season, especially since veteran Daniel Westmattelmann is still in the build-up phase after his serious fall caused by a police motorcycle last summer. With the talented newcomers Florian Nowak (from Team Herrmann), the seventh in the German Championships, Dorian Lübbers (from Heizomat) and Robert Kessler (LKT Brandenburg), the team has signed strong new drivers who can also achieve results. Jonasrutsch, the winner of the youth ranking of the Rad-Bundesliga in 2017, can be expected to make another leap in performance in his second year under 23, and Luca Henn should also succeed after a strong year in 2016 and a small slump in 2017 in building on the ideas from that time . Marc Dörrie joined the team as a stagiaire last summer. With Richard Weinzheimer, who has developed into a driver who is extremely helpful to the team, the team will be able to count on another strong driver in the junior class. The team is completed by Frederik Einhaus, Fabian Schormair, Tobias Knaup and Robert Retschke, who as “Capitaine de Route” has reliably guided the young drivers through difficult racing situations for years.
During the presentation, the team boss announced that his team will make their season debut at the beginning of February at the Tour de la Provence (2.1) in France, which will also feature a number of WorldTour teams. The riders will then be on the new Simplon bikes in a race for the first time. This is followed by a two-week training camp in Mallorca before continuing on to the Greek island of Rhodes, where Joshua Huppertz was able to impress with a third place finish last year at the GP Rhodes (1.2). Here we will tell you in detail.