Spring Classics and Grand Tours at the heart of the program
The Lotto-Ridley team, which is emerging out of the Omega Pharma-Lotto split, will consist of 27 riders from five different countries. The main goal will be the Spring Classics with Jurgen Roelandts and André Greipel at the forefront. Jurgen van den Broeck and Jelle Vandendert are the man for the Grand Tours.
Most riders are from Belgium, although Germany (Greipel and Marcel Sieberg), Denmark (Lars Itting Bak), Australia (Greg Henderson) and Spain (Vicente Reynés) are also represented. “It is impossible to have a team of 100 percent Belgians in current international cycling,” Team Manager Marc Sergeant said to Cyclism’Actu. “Belgium’s characteristic is to be internationally open, with Brussels as the capital of Europe.”
The team has still a very Belgian focus and with riders like Van Den Broeck, Roelandts, Vanendert, Jan Bakelants and Kenny Dehaes there are several who can win or animate races. It will be hard to emulate the successes of Philippe Gilbert, but the highlights will be the same.
The first focus is on the Spring Classics. “We really believe in the interaction of Jürgen Roelandts and André Greipel in the races in the spring,” Sergeant said. “We also hired some foreign riders to help the leaders in the big races.”
After that the Giro d’Italia and the Tour de France are waiting. “In the Grand Tours, we can count on our Belgian riders, many of whom we brought up, to help Jurgen Van Den Broeck and Jelle Vanendert in the mountains.”
Omega Pharma-Lotto finished the 2011 season in first place in the World Tour team rankings. Its star rider, Philippe Gilbert, closed the season in first place in the individual rankings. Gilbert has moved to BMC and so Omega Pharma-Lotto will be hard pressed to be as successful next year. But they do have several racers who can get nice results, so it will be interesting to see where the squad stands at the end of 2012.
Lotto-Ridley riders for 2012, with previous team in parentheses:
Lars Ytting Bak (HTC-Highroad), Jan Bakelants (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Gaëtan Bille (Wallonie Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole), Brian Bulgac (Omega Pharma-Lotto Davo team), Sander Cordeel (Colba-Mercury), Jens Debusschere (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Bart De Clercq (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Francis De Greef (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Kenny De Haes (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Gert Dockx (Omega Pharma-Lotto), André Greipel (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Adam Hansen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Greg Henderson (Sky ProCycling), Olivier Kaisen (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Gianni Meersman (FDJ), Maarten Neyens (Omega Pharma Lotto), Vicente Reynés (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Frederique Robert (Quick Step), Jurgen Roelandts (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Marcel Sieberg (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jurgen Vandewalle (Omega Pharma Lotto), Jelle Vanendert (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Dennis Vanendert (Unione Ciclistica Pistoiese 1930), Tosh Van der Sande (Omega Pharma-Lotto), Jonas Vangenechten (Wallonie Bruxelles-Crédit Agricole), Joost Van Leijen (Vacansoleil – DCM), Frederik Willems (Omega Pharma-Lotto)