Development Lotto Soudal Development Team ready for Giro U23

The five riders of the Lotto Soudal Development Team who will contest the Giro d’Italia U23 from tomorrow on, talk about their ambitions. The U23 team of Lotto Soudal is on a roll with a series of great results in the Italian races ahead of the Giro. Luca Van Boven, who’s not in the Giro line-up, was the strongest at the Trofeo Città di Meldola on Sunday and Vincent Van Hemelen won the Trofeo Città di Riolo on Wednesday, where teammate Ramses Debruyne finished second. While his teammates set top results in Italy, Lennert Van Eetvelt won a stage and the GC at the Course de la Paix, the Czech stage race which he participated in with the Belgian national team.

Ramses Debruyne (19)

“I am very happy with my current shape. I got sixth at Strade Bianche di Romagna, fourth at Trofeo Città di Meldola where Luca Van Boven won and second at Trofeo Città di Riolo where Vincent Van Hemelen finished first. Once Vincent had enough lead on the last climb I went full for the second place. We are strong collectively and the results of the past weeks give us a lot of confidence. And the atmosphere is great. Let the suffering begin.”

“Last year I had a knee injury and I couldn’t participate in the Giro. I am very happy to be able to ride it now. I really want to help Lennert Van Eetvelt win the Giro. It will be our job as teammates to give Lennert some peace of mind. We need to support him with practical issues, but as well by joining a breakaway to put some pressure on the opponents.”

William Junior Lecerf (19)

“I could finish the Course de la Paix with a good feeling. My condition is increasing and I hope to be even a bit better during the Giro. I want to enjoy this experience. The sixth stage finishes at Colle Fauniera, at an altitude of almost 2500 metres. I have never climbed that high, so I am curious to see how my body will respond to that.”

“With Lennert Van Eetvelt we have a GC guy in our team and we all want to help him. We are a strong team. That’s also the case for FDJ and Bardiani. But they won’t be our only opponents of course, there are always riders who perform strong individually and possibly some lesser known names will be contesting for the top results as well.”

Alec Segaert (18)

“I crashed in the beginning of May at the Beloftenweekend and therefore I missed some competition rhythm. I needed to find that back during the recent Italian races. At the Trofeo Città di Riolo I was part of the front group when I had a puncture. I needed to change bike, but I managed to join the peloton again. In the end I still got eleventh and I was the first of the former breakaway riders, so it was a missed opportunity. Luckily, my teammate Vincent Van Hemelen won the race.”

“When it fits into the team tactics I would like to show myself in some Giro stages. The opening stage should suit me. In theory it’s a stage for sprinters but because the teams consist of only five riders, teams with a sprinter cannot easily control the race. If a large breakaway is out on the road it will definitely stand a chance against the bunch. I find it a pity that there is no time trial. With the European Championships and the Worlds in mind it would be a good test. There aren’t many time trials in which we can compete with international riders, so it is a missed opportunity.”

Lennert Van Eetvelt (20)

“It’s wonderful that I could win the Course de la Paix, because that is a big race on the calendar where some well-known riders have won in the past. I wanted to win the GC. I was thinking more about that than winning a stage, but it is fantastic that I could do both. I was already close in the prologue, where I only stranded at eleven hundreds of a second.”

“Last year’s Giro taught me a lot. This time I am ready to battle for GC and I have  a strong team by my side. This year there are three stages less and there is a rest day. I cannot say what will be the effect of that. I am disappointed that there is no time trial. Logistically it’s not easy to organize a time trial but there aren’t many opportunities for us U23 riders and usually there was one at the Giro. Last year I got fifth in the time trial.”

“It’s impressive when you take a look at the course. The third stage is the queen stage, with almost 5000 altitude metres. And that’s only in the beginning of the Giro. But the tougher the better. Before the Course de la Paix I went ten days to Gran Canaria to train on long climbs. I had a lack of experience with longer climbs last year, but I have worked on it.”

Vincent Van Hemelen (21)

“At the Trofeo di Città di Riolo I attacked on the steep climb towards the finish. It was a shame that Alec Segaert missed out on a chance to battle for victory because of a puncture, but luckily we could finish it off as a team. After many second places this felt really good for me.”

“Just before we came to Italy at the end of May I did an altitude camp of ten days in Livigno. It was the first time I planned an altitude camp. I wanted to be ready for the Giro. It will be a new step in my development as a rider. In my dreams I win a Giro stage, but the GC ambitions of Lennert Van Eetvelt come first.”