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Tiesj Benoot and Tim Wellens lead Lotto-Soudal for Tirreno-Adriatico

  • Ron 

Coming off of a 4th place finish in last year’s Tirreno-Adriatico, Belgian Lotto Soudal rider Tiesj Benoot will lead the team this year along with Tim Wellens. Bart Leysen, sports director at Lotto Soudal, previews the course and discusses the team goals this year.

“There is no real mountain stage and not even a mountain finish in this year’s Tirreno. That way, the Classics specialists with good climbing abilities can not only compete for stage wins, they also have a shot at the overall win. The top contenders for the Grand Tours certainly won’t have the advantage this year. At Lotto Soudal, we have with Tiesj Benoot and Tim Wellens two cards to play.

“I expect that five of the seven stages will be important for the general classification. Only the two relatively flat stages won’t play a key role. The team time trial and the individual mission against the clock are part of those five crucial days. Given that in stage races such as Tirreno the GC is decided with a handful of seconds, the team time trial on the very first day will already be of crucial importance. Last year – when we finished sixteenth – was a disappointment for us. The composition of our team this year should allow us to aim higher so that we can start the Tirreno with our two leaders on a good note. The closing time trial – the specialty of Victor Campenaerts – will be an important last hurdle in the overall battle.”

“It is more than likely that a heavily reduced group will go for the victory during the three hilly stages. It will mainly be about bringing Tiesj Benoot and Tim Wellens – who already demonstrated to be really strong finishers – in the best way possible to the line. Last year, Tiesj finished fourth in the general classification and in the past, the Belgian also proved that he can manage tough finales really well. In this year’s edition of Tirreno-Adriatico, every second will count. We constantly need to be attentive to avoid losing precious seconds due to possible splits in the peloton.”

Line-up Lotto Soudal: Tiesj Benoot, Victor Campenaerts, Carl Fredrik Hagen, Jens Keukeleire, Tomasz Marczyński, Tosh Van der Sande and Tim Wellens.

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