The upcoming Tour Down Under will be the first real event of the season for Lotto Soudal. The Belgian WorldTour team went through some changes as it was delighted to welcome some new riders and staff members. That way, Lotto Soudal is completely ready to make 2019 a successful season!
Lotto Soudal is excited to have the young and promising sprinter Caleb Ewan on board. The 24-year-old Australian will start the season in his home country during the Tour Down Under. After that, Ewan will take part in the inaugural edition of the UAE Tour. Soon after, Paris-Nice is scheduled where he will prepare for the first monument of the season, Milan-San Remo. Ewan hopes to have another shot at the victory on the Via Roma as he sprinted to a second place last year. After a short break, Ewan will possibly resume competition during the Tour of Turkey. In July, the Australian sprinter will debut in the Tour de France, where he will be looking for a stage win. His first Tour will possibly be preceded by the Giro in May and the Tour of Belgium in June.
The spearhead of Lotto Soudal during the spring Classics will be Tiesj Benoot, who aims for another Classic win after his triumph in the Strade Bianche last year. Tiesj will race his first kilometres of the season in the Vuelta a San Juan (Argentina) and will then prepare for the Belgian opening weekend during an altitude training camp. Contrary to last year, the 24-year-old Belgian will start in both the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix. However, he will not compete in the Flèche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège. For the third consecutive year, Tiesj will be at the start line of the Tour de France. By the end of the season, Benoot aims to be in top shape for the world championships which are organised in Yorkshire.
Thomas De Gendt – winner of the KOM jersey during the 2018 Vuelta a España – will include the three Grand Tours in his race schedule. He will once again be hunting stage wins with his typical offensive style of racing. Just like last year – when he won the Brabantse Pijl – Tim Wellens will target the Ardennes Classics, races he will prepare on Mallorca and in Bessèges, followed by Paris-Nice and the Volta a Catalunya. Wellens will take a short break before getting ready for the Tour de France. The 27-year-old Belgian will pursue top form by the time the world championships in Great-Britain start, where he will find a course suited to his abilities.
With a bronze medal in the time trial world championships last year, Victor Campenaerts proved to be close to the world’s best time trialists. The double European champion against the clock wants to take another step forward this year. Campenaerts will prepare for the start of the season with a long training camp in Namibia. The Belgian again aims for individual time trial success. In addition, he will ride the same two Grand Tours he started last year, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España.
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