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
Córdoba porta ancora fortuna a Wout van Aert. Il belga della Visma-Lease a Bike ha conquistato la quindicesima tappa della Vuelta a España, centrando la sua seconda vittoria in questa edizione della corsa, dopo il successo ottenuto a Loja. Per...
Alessandro Romele ha sfiorato quella che sarebbe stata una delle vittorie più emozionanti della sua giovane carriera. Il ragazzo di Iseo voleva una vittoria speciale, da dedicare a Adele, tragicamente scomparsa in un incidente stradale, e a suo fratello Gioele....
Andrea Buti torna protagonista e conquista per il secondo anno di fila il Trofeo SS Addolorata di Montecorsaro (MC), centrando la prima vittoria stagionale tra i dilettanti. Il pisano della Gallina Lucchini Ecotek Colosio ha scelto il momento perfetto per...
In uno sprint ridotto vince sempre Wout Van Aert. La zampata del lupo è arrivata anche nella quindicesima tappa della Vuelta a España 2026, la Palma del Rio-Cordoba di 110.2 km, nella stessa città in cui due anni fa s'impose...
Grande spettacolo sulle strade della Bretagna in occasione della quarta edizione della Pointe du Raz Ladies Classic (1.Pro), disputata sulla distanza di 129, 5 km con partenza dalla Pointe du Raz e traguardo a Plouhinec. Ad alzare le braccia al...
Tom Pidcock si è presentato a Larciano determinato a lasciare il segno e lo ha fatto conquistando la sua quindicesima vittoria in carriera su strada. Subito dopo l’arrivo il britannico ha commentato: «Dopo il mondiale in MTB sono venuto qui...
Nicolò Garibbo mette il sigillo definitivo sulla 62ª edizione del IO Giro della Regione Friuli Venezia Giulia (classe 2.2), chiusa oggi con una volata di alto livello che ha premiato Cameron Rogers. L’australiano della Netcompany Ineos Racing Academy ha regolato...
Alessandro Minoia si prende la scena e firma la prima vittoria in carriera nel prestigioso Criterium 648 per juniores, disputato a Clusone, in provincia di Bergamo. Una giornata speciale per il bresciano di Ghedi, 18 anni, che con una prova...
Lo ZLM Tour 2026 battezza la prima vittoria da professionista (la seconda in stagione) di Henry Hobbs. Il talentuoso britannico della Visma Lease a Bike Devo si è infatti portato a casa la frazione conclusiva della breve corsa a tappe...
Sulla collina di Fabbrica di Peccioli la sfida juniores con il Trofeo San Rocco presente il c.t. azzurro Edoardo Salvoldi. Si è imposto per distacco con un finale di gara magnifico, il laziale ed azzurro Andrea Tarallo del Team Vangi...
1
1
Ritratti
Oscar
Albi d'Oro
