STÉPHANE HEULOT. «LOOKING FOR A SPONSOR TO JOIN LOTTO. DISAPPOINTED BY VAN GILS AND CONCERNED ABOUT THE MOVEMENT. WORLDTOUR? GOAL FOR 2026»
PROFESSIONALS | 04/01/2025 | 09:54 di Luca Galimberti The formations and programs of Lotto Equipe for 2025 were officially presented yesterday. On the sidelines of the event organized at the team's headquarters in Temse, Team Manager Stéphane Heulot was intercepted by our colleagues from RTBF and discussed several topics, and we present here the key passages of the interview.
SPONSORS AND BUDGET FOR 2025. "Currently, we do not have a second sponsor, but we are working intensively to find one or more companies interested in joining Lotto in naming the team. It's not a simple task; the sports world is not necessarily a priority for companies, and millions are not found by snapping your fingers. However, I am proud of the research work we are doing and honored to have a solid and important partner, the owner of the team, like the National Lottery of Belgium. Lotto allows us to have a substantially unchanged budget compared to last year, but obviously, it is not right to rely solely on this. I hope to announce something important before the Tour de France and add a new name during the season: in recent years, we have seen this done by several teams like Lidl Trek or Soudal, which became T-Rex for the Vuelta".
THE VAN GILS CASE. "I always have a lot of affection for my riders, and I still have it for Maxime even though he will no longer wear our jersey (he moved to Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe). Obviously, I am a bit disappointed, and what struck me the most is that Maxime wanted to renew his contract at the beginning of the season, which was what he desired. We accepted it on his terms so that he would be comfortable. He had a magnificent season, and I wish him the same for this year. Certainly, we are a bit disappointed, but I know that a cycling career does not last many years and that an extremely attractive offer was made to him. However, I want to say that even if we had certain sums, we certainly would not have given them. I cannot deny that these situations worry me; I have talked about this with many other managers: today, we have four or five teams that are able to do almost anything financially. I also reason in the interest of the entire cycling movement; if tomorrow there are only four or five teams that monopolize everything, I think we will all lose a lot, and passion will inevitably decrease. But I hope I am wrong".
GOAL OF RETURNING TO THE WORLD TOUR. "Our main objective is to return to the World Tour from 2026; this is the common thread of all our activity. Certainly, the goal is to return to be protagonists and not just to 'survive'. We have a young team, and in the last two years, we have entered the top 10 of the UCI ranking. Even with a team that on paper seems less strong, we aim to maintain our position. We will try to achieve this goal by adding more one-day races to our calendar. For example, we will not participate in the Giro d'Italia, Paris-Nice, or Tirreno-Adriatico because we hope to collect more UCI points in one-day races. Our final objective remains returning to the World Tour in 2026; we have a great challenge ahead of us to re-enter the top category to do great things". Cover photo from the Lotto team website
Per essere una formazione Continental, è decisamente competitivo il roster che la Rotterdam - BEAT CC p/b Saxo sta allestendo settimana dopo settimana in vista della stagione 2027. Dopo le firme di Siebe Deweirdt, Finn Crockett, Mathis Avondts e Jelte Krijnsen,...
La Bardiani-CSF 7 Saber annuncia l'ingaggio di Alexander Hajek per la stagione 2027. Il corridore austriaco, nato a Hainburg an der Donau il 19 luglio 2003, arriva dalla Red Bull–BORA–hansgrohe, formazione WorldTour con cui ha gareggiato nelle ultime tre stagioni....
Jay Vine continuerà a vestire la maglia della UAE Team Emirates-XRG fino al termine della stagione 2029. Il corridore australiano, arrivato nella formazione emiratina nel 2023, ha trovato negli ultimi anni la propria dimensione, affermandosi sia come uomo capace di...
Proseguirà per altri due anni l’avventura di Haoyu Su con l’XDS Astana. Arrivato a inizio 2025 tra le fila del team kazako, il campione cinese su strada (vincitore quest’anno dell’argento nella prova in linea degli Asian Championships oltre al titolo...
Paul Seixas si sta godendo i primi giorni di vacanza e ieri ha concesso un’intervista a RMC nella quale ha seminato dubbi, indizi, sospetti... a cominciare dalle scelte per la prossima stagione agonistica. «Per ora non so a quale grande...
E’ un cavallo da tiro, da salita, da gran premio della montagna. E’ un cavallo da maglia a pois. E’ un cavallo (nella fase di avvicinamento, sui tornanti) a quattro zampe, due gambe e due ruote, ma soltanto (nella fase...
«Ho un problema all'arteria iliaca». Célia Gery ha spiegato così che dovrà mettere in pausa la sua stagione ciclocrossistica per affrontare un intervento chirurgico. La campionessa nazionale francese di specialità, tesserata per la Specialized TMRW, domenica ha conquistato la vittoria...
Le ultime settimane di corsa hanno ribaltato la situazione in testa alla classifica dell'Oscar tuttoBICI Gran Premio System Cars riservato alla categoria Allievi. Il marchigiano Giulio Vitali della Ethica Zero24 Cycling Team ha infatti recuperato terreno e sorpassato il lombardo Matteo Jacopo...
Le lunghe distanze sono nelle vostre corde? Se è così vi farà piacere sapere che Selle Italia ha appena ampliato la famiglia SLR con la nuova SLR Endurance, una sella creata appositamente per chi affronta lunghe distanze su strada. L’ergonomia e le sensazioni in sella...
Intensa giornata quella in programma nella zona del Mugello Circuit a Scarperia domenica 1° Novembre dove la società Virtus VII Miglio di Settimello organizza la sesta edizione del Trofeo Città di Firenze di ciclocross con gare internazionali, nazionali e regionali,...
1
1
Ritratti
Oscar
Albi d'Oro
