ProTeam “We are really hungry”: Brent Van Moer and Florian Vermeersch kick off season at the Tour du Var

This weekend, Lotto Soudal will be racing on French soil at the three-day Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var (2.1). On Friday, there is a hilly stage scheduled, where the strong sprinters will be able to seize their opportunity. On Saturday and Sunday, the peloton will hit the more mountainous terrain, where the general classification where most likely be decided.

Lotto Soudal will be at the start with a strong line-up including amongst others Arnaud De Lie, Caleb Ewan, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens. Besides Australian Harry Sweeny, also Brent Van Moer and Florian Vermeersch will kick off their season at the Haut Var. The past weeks, the duo stayed in Spain where they joined Victor Campenaerts at the Syncrosfera hotel, simulating an altitude training camp. Following a long period of training, the Belgian Lotto Soudal riders are really eager to get their season underway. However, both Van Moer and Vermeersch are tempering their expectations for the Tour du Var. 

“The past months, I have done a lot of training and compared to last year, my season starts a bit later. This makes me even more hungry to get started”, Florian Vermeersch says. “The training camp at Syncrosfera went really well and I was able to train as planned. The training conditions were perfect and the presence of Brent and Victor really made it a successful training camp. It was nice to hit the road with two friends almost every day. Even though everyone had their own specific training programme, we still did the majority of the endurance rides together.”

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Teammate Brent Van Moer confirms. “After a successful altitude training camp, I am really looking forward to be back racing. This was one of the best training camps I have done so far. Of course, Victor and Florian were there, but we were also perfectly supported by our soigneur, mechanic and doctor. Apart from our training rides, we stayed in the altitude rooms most of the time. I’m looking forward to see the results of that during the races.”

Both riders will test their legs at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, a tough three-day race with a lot of climbing.

“I don’t know what to expect from the Tour du Var. We’ll have to wait and see how my legs react to several weeks at altitude. If I don’t feel great the next few days, it’s certainly no reason to panic. I know I have prepared myself really well and that I’m in a good shape towards the upcoming Classics. Because of the many uphill kilometres, the Tour du Var isn’t perfectly suited to my abilities but still, it’s important to race before the first Classics” Florian Vermeersch concludes.

“After my hip fracture last summer, I didn’t do a lot of races so it will be interesting to see how I feel when the intensity of the efforts goes up. I already felt good during training and I look forward to being at the start of the Tour du Var, where we have a strong team present. So it could become a nice three days of racing…”, Brent Van Moer concludes.

Line-up Lotto Soudal Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var: Arnaud De Lie, Caleb Ewan, Andreas Kron, Harry Sweeny, Brent Van Moer, Florian Vermeersch and Tim Wellens.

Stage schedule

Friday 18 February: Saint-Raphaël - Lay Seyne-sur-Mer (176 km)

Saturday 19 February: Puget-Théniers - La Turbie (149 km)

Sunday 20 February: Villefranche-sur-Mer - Blausasc (113 km)