Team goes for completely new appearance

Tosh van der SandeGoing with a new look for the 2014 season, the Lotto Belisol team has disposed of the blue, yellow and white colours of this season in favour of a more straightforward red and white colour scheme for the months ahead.

Team rider Tosh van der Sande has unveiled the revised team kit today, which is a mid-red, features a white chest panel with the main sponsors’ names printed across it and has a scattering of minor sponsors discretely placed above that.

The idea is, according to the team, to reflect the changes in the squad for 2014. “With ten riders leaving and nine newcomers the team will be partly different in the upcoming cycling year. That’s why there was chosen for a restyling of the shirt and the team will have a new look,” it states.

“The most important aim of the design was to refer to the thirty years of Lotto tradition in cycling with a basic retro look on one hand and to come forward together with Belisol as a close team on the other, and emphasizing with it the Belgian character of the team.

“Also the basic values of ‘offering opportunities’ and ‘fulfilling dreams’ are reinforced with it.”

The latter is undoubtedly marketing hyperbole but the redesign has generally been met with a thumbs-up. The jersey should be instantly recognisable in the peloton, not least because a number of other teams are running with a dark kit in 2014.

Tosh van der SandeThe back of the jersey is a plain red, which again should make it easier to spot the riders from the overhead footage.

Andre Griepel will once again be one of the team’s top riders in 2014 and will follow his habitual pattern by getting his season underway in the Santos Tour Down Under. Also remaining on board is the team’s GC rider Jurgen van den Broeck, as well as Adam Hansen, the only rider to finish all three Grand Tours this year [and also in 2012], plus Jürgen Roelandts, Lars Bak, Jens Debusschere, Kenny Dehaes, Bart de Clerq, Gert Dockx, Greg Henderson, Olivier Kaisen, Marcel, Sieberg, Tosh van der Sande, Jelle Vanendert, Dennis Vanendert, Jonas Vangenechten, Tim Wellens and Frederik Willems.

As for the nine newcomers mentioned by the team in unveiling the 2014 colours, they are Sander Armée (Topsport Vlaanderen), Vacansoleil DCM duo Kris Boeckmans and Pim Ligthart, RadioShack Leopard’s Tony Gallopin and Maxime Monfort, Leopard Trek rider Sean de Bie, Vegard Breen (Joker-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Belisol U23) and Boris Vallée (Color Code-Biowanze).

The squad had 28 wins this season, of which Greipel notched up thirteen. These included his Tour de France stage win on stage six, two days after Kenny Dehaes was successful. Hansen also took Grand Tour success, soloing to a super victory on stage seven of the Giro d’Italia.