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Teams & Riders Lotto Cycling Team

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Samamba

Samamba

May 10, 2015
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Earns1985 said:
Any idea, when Robin Orins will start his season?

Heard some rumours, that he is out for some time? Does anybody have information about that?
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He's out "for a relatively long time" is the only info I got. I asked multiple people who should know, but no one really wanted to say the details so it's a bit weird. He stopped training at the beginning of December out of nowhere, so it's probably a pretty big injury.

Lexman said:
a very disappointing start of the season, Menten is absent in the sprints, weak teams at the start of the races... but even then not one single rider in the bunch at la Marseillaise...

Veistroffer seems to be good element for the moment, given his fysical appearance he could do P-R...

hopefully Van Eetvelt will deliver in the UAE tour...
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Was to be expected sadly. I think people still underestimate how hard the team got hit by the sponsor problems. The amount of quality that left and wasn't replaced is pretty insane. Van de Wouwer and Heulot can pretend like it isn't that bad and bla bla it obviously hit. Combine that with a spree of injuries/sicknesses and obviously you're in throuble as a team. Apart from Orins we obviously had De Lie missing his opener, Slock injured, Orins out with a serious injury, Giddings now out with a collarbone fracture, lots or riders that got sick during training camp meaning they lost some crucial days of training, Van de Paar has gotten sick like 3 times in one month resulting in missing Mallorca and Menten having to do the sprints, and he has completely lost his touch.

But yes even with all that they should've done better, it's a horrendous start of the season. The worst that I can remember, luckily they have the points from the last 2 years, but if you're going to lose 500-900 points to the bottom teams every 2 weeks, you're not going to be certain of that WT status after all. I don't see it getting better anytime soon. They have to pray De Lie doesn't crash again (I'm scared for Besseges) and Van Eetvelt performs in UAE (watch him lose time in echelons or something).
 
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Samamba

Samamba

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We can sadly add Berckmoes to the infirmary. He's having health issues. I do not have the exact details (as I understand it, the cause right now is unknown), but he isn't training (and hasn't been for a week). He left altitude camp. There's a chance he misses opening weekend.

So that's 4 riders out for a possibly longer time. Van de Paar has been training a bit, but still struggling with his knee. Slock still not on his bike again. Apparently he hit his knee during a crash. It wasn't bad at first so he started training quickly again but then it got worse again. And no idea about Orins. But I doubt he's training again.

Half the UAE team around Van Eetvelt will be riders that weren't supposed to ride a month ago...
 
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Lexman

Lexman

Jul 2, 2011
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Samamba said:
We can sadly add Berckmoes to the infirmary. He's having health issues. I do not have the exact details (as I understand it, the cause right now is unknown), but he isn't training (and hasn't been for a week). He left altitude camp. There's a chance he misses opening weekend.

So that's 4 riders out for a possibly longer time. Van de Paar has been training a bit, but still struggling with his knee. Slock still not on his bike again. Apparently he hit his knee during a crash. It wasn't bad at first so he started training quickly again but then it got worse again. And no idea about Orins. But I doubt he's training again.

Half the UAE team around Van Eetvelt will be riders that weren't supposed to ride a month ago...
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For the moment I only see de Schuyteneer & LVE on PCS for the UAE tour?

Well they recuperate Currie and Thompson one of these days after they NZ champs...
 
Samamba

Samamba

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Lexman said:
For the moment I only see de Schuyteneer & LVE on PCS for the UAE tour?

Well they recuperate Currie and Thompson one of these days after they NZ champs...
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I know Thompson has been called up yes. To be clear he "volunteered" as he's feeling really good on training and wants to race. Don't know about Currie. He was supposed to ride Rwanda again I think but I'm not sure if Lotto is still planning on going there.

I fear for echelons and then Lennert will be very vulnerable without big engines in the team. At least his winter has been good. Last thing I heard was that he was flying (2 weeks ago, hopefully nothing happened to him since then).

And not to make your day even worse, but Menten is the next one... Also knee pain. Hasn't been training outside since Mallorca. Was on his bike for the first time today, but only indoors.
 
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Samamba

Samamba

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Salvarani said:
LVE has had knee problems before as well.

What are they doing at Lotto?
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I asked the question to someone at Lotto, they think it's mostly just bad luck right now. Van de Paar for example has had knee problems since he was 18 years old. He's struggled with it a lot, it keeps coming back sadly. Slock crashed on his knee so nothing you can do about that. De Lie's knee problems have also been caused by crashes (he is going to have problems with his knees due to high low cadence style at some point tho).

They do feel like there's a significant increase in knee injuries in pro cycling in general. And honestly I have had that feeling myself. Lotto hasn't been the only team with a lot riders having knee injuries. I remember EF last year for example. At Israel also a few, etc. I think it would be an interesting thing to research. The more aggressive position on the bike could be one factor for example.
 
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Lexman

Lexman

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Samamba said:
I know Thompson has been called up yes. To be clear he "volunteered" as he's feeling really good on training and wants to race. Don't know about Currie. He was supposed to ride Rwanda again I think but I'm not sure if Lotto is still planning on going there.

I fear for echelons and then Lennert will be very vulnerable without big engines in the team. At least his winter has been good. Last thing I heard was that he was flying (2 weeks ago, hopefully nothing happened to him since then).

And not to make your day even worse, but Menten is the next one... Also knee pain. Hasn't been training outside since Mallorca. Was on his bike for the first time today, but only indoors.
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Regarding Menten he's doing the tour de Rwanda so he must not be suffering too much

PS any news on Berckmoes?
 
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Samamba

Samamba

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Lexman said:
Regarding Menten he's doing the tour de Rwanda so he must not be suffering too much

PS any news on Berckmoes?
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Being on the start list doesn't mean he'll actually start (also have no idea what's going through the teams head when they decidie to send Menten to Rwanda but ok). He has 1 proper training ride in the books so far (yesterday). We'll see if his knee holds.

Berckmoes is still not training. Doubt he'll make opening weekend. Wouldn't be surprised if he has something like mononucleosis and then his whole spring is done for.
 
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Lexman

Lexman

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Samamba said:
Being on the start list doesn't mean he'll actually start (also have no idea what's going through the teams head when they decidie to send Menten to Rwanda but ok). He has 1 proper training ride in the books so far (yesterday). We'll see if his knee holds.

Berckmoes is still not training. Doubt he'll make opening weekend. Wouldn't be surprised if he has something like mononucleosis and then his whole spring is done for.
Click to expand...

the composition is mentioned here
 
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Samamba

Samamba

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No opening weekend for Berckmoes (well 90% sure). Still not on the bike. Don't have details what's really going on (it's pretty weird but ok), but yeah "not fit/'not feeling well" is what's been communicated (not publicly).

So Lotto basically only has De Lie in Omloop. And I don't think he has the form he had the last 2 years. We'll see, but I think Van Eetvelt the upcoming week is the teams best chance at getting an actual good result this beginning of the season, even tho he was also a bit sick last week.

Thank god they had a 13000 points advantage on Astana before this season, otherwise it was basically the end of the team. At this rate (1500 points lost in 4 weeks) they might actually lose that advantage tho, but I'm assuming it will get better at some point.
 
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tobydawq

tobydawq

Nov 16, 2013
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Samamba said:
No opening weekend for Berckmoes (well 90% sure). Still not on the bike. Don't have details what's really going on (it's pretty weird but ok), but yeah "not fit/'not feeling well" is what's been communicated (not publicly).

So Lotto basically only has De Lie in Omloop. And I don't think he has the form he had the last 2 years. We'll see, but I think Van Eetvelt the upcoming week is the teams best chance at getting an actual good result this beginning of the season, even tho he was also a bit sick last week.

Thank god they had a 13000 points advantage on Astana before this season, otherwise it was basically the end of the team. At this rate (1500 points lost in 4 weeks) they might actually lose that advantage tho, but I'm assuming it will get better at some point.
Click to expand...
They're a weird team. They have two really good riders in Van Eetvelt and De Lie, one good rider in Berckmoes and then a couple of big talents, one of whom isn't even on their professional team roster in spite of them only having 25 guys on there. And then that's pretty much it. It will be a long season for them.
 
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Samamba

Samamba

May 10, 2015
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tobydawq said:
They're a weird team. They have two really good riders in Van Eetvelt and De Lie, one good rider in Berckmoes and then a couple of big talents, one of whom isn't even on their professional team roster in spite of them only having 25 guys on there. And then that's pretty much it. It will be a long season for them.
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Well yeah they lost their whole midfield due to the sponsor problems. Was always going to be a hard season for them, but when you have so many injuries or sick riders (including your 3rd best) it's gonna be even worse than expected. They really need that extra sponsor or they'll get ruined in the WT, and the problem is that from what I've heard sponsors aren't willing to join the project as long as they are not 100% sure of WT. Also why I don't really understand some selections, but ok.

About Widar, it's because of the (imo stupid) UCI rule. He wants to ride Worlds and EC this year, and he can't do that if he's a pro, otherwise he would be on the pro roster. It's going to be annoying when he rides with the pro team and will be leader (like in the upcoming French races) and starts scoring points that don't even count. He also earns more than a lot of Lotto pros already.
 
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GenericBoonenFan

GenericBoonenFan

Dec 27, 2015
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tobydawq said:
They're a weird team. They have two really good riders in Van Eetvelt and De Lie, one good rider in Berckmoes and then a couple of big talents, one of whom isn't even on their professional team roster in spite of them only having 25 guys on there. And then that's pretty much it. It will be a long season for them.
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They have more 'good' riders.
Segaert who's a huge prospec and already won a WT ITT in Renewi last year ahead of Bisseger, Foss, Sheffield.
De Buyst who still is one of the best lead-outs in the world and
Taminaux who won a WT sprint last year (okay only Guangxi, but still) and he's a lock for a top ten in those Belgian 1.1 races.

They lack some depth sure, but they also still have some very promising talents in Liam Slock, Jarne VDP, Steffen, Giddings and Widar (on the dev team).
And hopefully Vandenabeele finally turns into the rider we all know he can be.
 
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Samamba

Samamba

May 10, 2015
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GenericBoonenFan said:
They have more 'good' riders.
Segaert who's a huge prospec and already won a WT ITT in Renewi last year ahead of Bisseger, Foss, Sheffield.
De Buyst who still is one of the best lead-outs in the world and
Taminaux who won a WT sprint last year (okay only Guangxi, but still) and he's a lock for a top ten in those Belgian 1.1 races.

They lack some depth sure, but they also still have some very promising talents in Liam Slock, Jarne VDP, Steffen, Giddings and Widar (on the dev team).
And hopefully Vandenabeele finally turns into the rider we all know he can be.
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Segaert is in the "couple of big talents" of course. And De Buyst has had the worst season of his career, is still not 100% fit, hasn't done a good leadout in more than a year. Taminiaux had a great win in Guangxi, but obviously he's not actually a WT level rider (as something more than a domestique). He can score a few points yes. De Schuyteneer is a big talent, but Slock and Giddings (both out) I wouldn't call big talents, decent on level below WT sure, but they're far off from being very usefull in a lot of WT races for now. Van de Paar is a decent sprinter (also not super fast tho), but is never fit. Most of them are nice young guys to follow, but apart from obviously Widar and De Schuyteneer (and Grisel, Donie, Van Bylen, Taillieu still in devo team) I think they are rather limited. Decent riders, but I definitely wouldn't call them "good "right now.
 
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Lexman

Lexman

Jul 2, 2011
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Samamba said:
No opening weekend for Berckmoes (well 90% sure). Still not on the bike. Don't have details what's really going on (it's pretty weird but ok), but yeah "not fit/'not feeling well" is what's been communicated (not publicly).

So Lotto basically only has De Lie in Omloop. And I don't think he has the form he had the last 2 years. We'll see, but I think Van Eetvelt the upcoming week is the teams best chance at getting an actual good result this beginning of the season, even tho he was also a bit sick last week.

Thank god they had a 13000 points advantage on Astana before this season, otherwise it was basically the end of the team. At this rate (1500 points lost in 4 weeks) they might actually lose that advantage tho, but I'm assuming it will get better at some point.
Click to expand...
Astana grabs lots of points now but when Alpecin, Visma send the big teams Astana will get a lot less points...
 
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