The 73rd edition of the Vuelta a Espana starts on the 25th of August and Lotto Soudal is looking to match or exceed last year’s performance, when they returned from Spain with four victories, including two stages won by the Polish Tomasz Marczyński, one by the combative Thomas De Gendt and one by Sander Armée, who became Lotto Soudal ’s best ranked rider on the general classification.
The three stage winners will also be at the start in Malaga during this year’s edition: Thomas De Gendt (sixth participation), Tomasz Marczyński (fourth participation) and Sander Armée (fourth participation) hope to repeat last year’s victories and to help the other Lotto Soudal riders in their pursuit of a stage win as well. Tiesj Benoot (first participation), Bjorg Lambrecht (first participation), Maxime Monfort (eighth participation), Tosh Van der Sande (fourth participation) and Jelle Wallays (third participation) complete the line-up.
Sports director Mario Aerts comments on the team’s line-up and hopes for another strong performance in this year’s Vuelta.
Mario Aerts: “Last year, Sander Armée not only took a stage win, but also finished nineteenth overall. We hope that Sander is able to achieve another place in the top twenty this year, but we will mainly focus on a stage win. Especially, in the second part of the race there are a couple of stages where he’ll get the opportunity to do so. Tiesj Benoot will be riding his first Vuelta ever. After he was forced to withdraw in the Tour de France, he prepared himself for the following upcoming races. He will be at the starting line without any goals for the GC and we’ll have to wait and see how his shape is at the moment. There are several stages in which he can play a role and animate the race. It would be nice to see him winning a stage, but much depends on how the race will unfold itself. Last year’s scenario was ideal as Team Sky controlled the tour from the beginning, and the escapees got many opportunities.”
“Everyone knows Thomas De Gendt by now. He’s a good climber and hopes to repeat his stage win of last year. Also this 73rd edit ion consists of several opportunities for Thomas to show his climbing skills once again. He and Maxime Monfort are the riders from our line-up that participated the most in the Vuelta. Maxime will help his teammates, but will also get the chance to go for a stage win himself. Last year he played an important role in Tomasz Marczyński’s stage win. Maxime accelerated with Jungel s in the front group, giving Tomasz a break so he was able to save some energy before entering the last kilometres. Over the years, Maxime gained a lot of experience and knows how to complete a Grand Tour. In the last week of the race, when the more difficult stages take place, I definitely see him making a move. Marczyński himself is also very keen on repeating last year’s Vuelta. There’s a stage in Granada, where he’s currently living, with quite a difficult uphill finish. He will be really motivated to win that particular stage.”
“It’s the first Grand Tour for Bjorg Lambrecht. He’s still young and already performed strongly this season. The re aren’t many races for rider s like Bjorg this time of the year, so the Vuelta is an ideal preparation towards the World Championships. He probably won’t finish the tour and will be at the start for the first ten to fourteen stages, before heading back home and continuing his preparation for the World Championships.”
“There are five to six stages that will most likely finish in a bunch sprint. With Tosh Van der Sande we have a rider who can compete for victory in these stages. Jelle Wallays will be helping him, but could also try to join the breakaway himself in about three stages. Of course, we’ll have to wait until the official start list has been confirmed: if there will be many fast men at the start line, the breakaway won’t get many chances to stay clear and it will probably be better no t to attack. We’ll take it one day at a time. Either way, all eight of our riders will get the chance to animate the stages and hopefully we can take one or a couple of stage wins back home.”
Line-up Lotto Soudal: Sander Armée, Tiesj Benoot, Thomas De Gendt, Bjorg Lambrecht, Tomasz Marczyński, Maxime Monfort, Tosh Van der Sande and Jelle Wallays.
Sports directors: Mario Aerts and Marc Wauters.
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