Lotto Dstny have submitted an official request for clear photo finish imagery of Sunday’s GP Monseré result. 

The Belgian one-day race was decided in a two-up sprint between the ProTeam’s Caleb Ewan and Intermarché-Circus-Wanty’s Gerben Thijssen, with the race organisers ultimately declaring the latter to have won on the line. 

Finish line imagery of the sprint emerged online after the race, but appeared blurry and inconclusive. 

The sprint was so tight that it appeared the honours were initially given to Ewan. The Australian recorded a winner’s interview after the race, before the images were reviewed and Thijssen was declared the victor. 

Since Sunday’s event, Lotto Dstny sports director Nikolas Maes has held discussions with the race organisers and officials in an attempt to gain greater clarity regarding the result decision. Cycling Weekly understands that a clear photo finish image is yet to be provided. 

In a press release shared yesterday, the organisers of the GP Monseré said they were “happy” with the race podium.

“Understandably, a lot of attention afterwards went to the photo finish that was supposed to determine the winner,” the press release continued. “As the organizer we have no responsibility for the organization of this finish line and the finish photo. This task should be done by the Belgian Cycling Federation and the UCI." 

Ewan himself cast doubt over the result on Twitter after the race, sharing two different angles of the sprint and writing: “I kinda think I won.”

He added: “If anyone’s got a photo of big G clearly beating me it would actually make me feel a bit better to be honest.”

At the end of last season, Lotto Dstny were relegated from the WorldTour after they failed to collect enough UCI points over the three-year cycle. The team is now bidding for promotion in 2026, and needs to amass as many points as possible. Thijssen was awarded 125 UCI points for winning the GP Monseré, while Ewan received 80 for second place. 

Cycling Weekly understands that Lotto Dstny are not necessarily looking to see their sprinter restated as the joint winner of the GP Monseré. It is uncertain what action the Belgian team might take if the race officials fail to provide conclusive evidence of the result.

Neither the Belgian Cycling Federation nor the UCI has responded to Cycling Weekly's requests for comment. 

Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, who rode for Lotto-Soudal at the Tour de France this year, has said that the current WorldTour system in cycling is endangering many smaller teams' futures. 

The South African professional, who was part of Caleb Ewan’s sprint train last season, believes that the current WorldTour system is “preventing growth” in cycling, leaving some teams “fighting against everything” just to survive. 

Speaking to Cycling Weekly, Janse van Rensburg said that without change cycling will see further teams collapse in the same manner as B & B Hotels-KTM did earlier this week. 

“I think the system at the moment and how it’s set up is killing all the smaller teams, all the Pro Continental teams, they just don’t have a chance to shine,” he said. 

“You’ve got the 18 WorldTour teams, and then the two Pro-Continental teams that are guaranteed invites to all the WorldTour races, so race organisers only have like two invites that they can send out.” 

“So then if you’re a French race organiser you’ve got two French Pro-Conti teams lined up, if you’re Italian, you’ve probably then got one or two Italian teams lined up. So if you’re at Pro-Continental level, you’re kind of fighting against everything just to try and get an invite to WorldTour races, which I don’t think is really fair,” he added. “It’s limiting things for teams, and I think the system is actually preventing growth inside cycling.”

In recent days, the management of Norwegian Proteam Uno-X explained that they were watching the situation of the stricken B & B Hotels-KTM team with a close eye. The demise of the French team now means that Uno-X are arguably in a stronger position to receive an invite to the Tour de France next year. 

Janse van Rensburg responded to a tweet from Cyclingnews which contained comments from Uno-X to express his frustration at the system. Something which he clarified was not a direct dig at the Norwegian team but at the wider system in general. 

“To be clear, my comment was not a dig at Uno-X or their position about this. It’s more about the system in the WorldTour, that’s what my comment was about. It’s not about Uno-X, it’s really understandable their position. It’s the system that’s frustrating me,” he explained. 

POINTS SYSTEM IS 'COMPLETELY BROKEN'

Janse van Rensburg is among those that see problems with state of the WorldTour relegation system and the way in which points are allocated during the season. 

The points given to riders for minor one day races are often offer a better return on investment than wins at bigger stage races like the Tour de France.

In recent weeks prominent figures including Chris Froome have spoken out against the set up, with Froome branding it a “death sentence” for smaller teams. EF Education Easy-Post boss Jonathan Vaughters also slammed the points system saying it led to an “absurd” way of racing. 

Janse van Rensburg explained that the points system in his mind is “completely broken”. 

“It’s a big factor in all of this. I think the points system is completely broken with how it works, it just doesn’t make sense the way in which points are allocated. First that needs to be fixed and then the relegation system has to be looked at too,” he said. 

“I think it would actually make sense to have even fewer WorldTour teams, say only 10. Then you could have 12 wildcards or Pro-Continental or whatever. Then it could be much more competitive and much more supportive and fair with how teams get to the big races,” he added. 

“Otherwise there are very limited opportunities if you’re not one of the top 20 teams in the system.”

When asked if he expected to see further teams fold like B & B Hotels did Janse van Rensburg said: “Oh definitely. With there only being spots on the big races for those 20 teams, the rest is just all fighting. So if you’re not one of those 20 teams then good luck to you. It’s terrible news for B & B. The system is really limiting teams chances and it’s not healthy for the sport.

“I think maybe the Tour de France is becoming too prominent in the calendar. Of course you need that premier event in any sport, but I think cycling is much bigger than that. There’s more events than just the Tour.”

“With that I just think the WorldTour is just killing all the small teams. It’s always the same teams, at all the races. Some teams get all the opportunities and the other ones are just fighting for scraps,” he added.

Janse van Rensburg left Lotto-Soudal at the end of the 2022 season, and explained on social media that he will be stepping back from racing at WorldTour level. Something which he told Cycling Weekly was partly affected by his feelings towards competition at that level and the wider system.

“It definitely played a role in my decision. When you see what I’m involved in next year, I can elaborate more on that.”

Caleb Ewan will stay at Lotto-Soudal for 2023 despite the team's soon to be confirmed relegation from the WorldTour.

Cycling Weekly understands that the Australian sprinter has expressed no desire to leave the team due to their relegation, and that Ewan has said that he will stay with the squad and honour his contract which runs until the end of 2024. 

A spokesperson for Lotto Soudal confirmed to Cycling Weekly that despite the team's situation, Ewan was “not going anywhere”. 

“Caleb has said internally to us that he will stay on the team. At the moment we’re planning and discussing his programme and goals for next season, which will continue next week,” the spokesperson said. 

Ewan recently signed a new contract which runs until the end of the 2024 season. When asked by Cycling Weekly whether there was a clause allowing him to leave following the team’s relegation, they explained that Ewan like other riders may have wanted to leave, but that the impending relegation “changes nothing”. 

“It could change it, but it doesn’t. The potential relegation was an issue for the entire season and something that he [Ewan] was aware of. Although he has always expressed his intention to stay towards us and nothing will change,” they said. 

“There is always an option riders want to leave, relegation or not. We have seen this on multiple occasions and teams before. But we have no signals from any riders wanting to leave. 

"Caleb extended his contract together with Jasper De Buyst. They will be a hard to beat combination in 2023. For them, nothing changes, next year we will be fighting for victory in the biggest races like we have been the past years," they added. 

“We will still be able to ride the Tour, the Giro and Milan San Remo which were Caleb’s biggest goals last season. His sprint train hasn’t changed much, so for him and us things don’t really change. The goals stay the same and the programme will remain the same. There’s no benefit here to anyone taking a different course.” 

Meanwhile the team spokesperson explained that Lotto-Soudal are viewing their relegation as “an opportunity to take a step back to then advance further" in the long term, and that Ewan deciding to stay with the team was a huge statement of intent. 

They said: “For us to convince all our riders of our project for next season, we had to take some steps and think about ways we could change things for the better and for the good of the team. The fact that for example Caleb says ‘ok I’m committed to this team, they have a plan for me and for the entire team’ just confirms to us that we’re moving in the right direction.”

Jonathan Vaughters along with Chris Froome have recently condemned the structure of the WorldTour relegation system, with Froome labelling it as a "death sentence" for many other teams.

Froome's team Israel-Premier Tech are expected to join Lotto-Soudal at ProTour level in 2023 after also being relegated.

In a video shared on his YouTube channel, Philippe Gilbert has revealed that he was offered the role of team manager by Lotto Soudal, but chose to turn it down. 

“There’s a rumour that’s going around the cycling world that I’ll be the new manager of Lotto Soudal,” said the 40-year-old, who retired on Sunday at Paris-Tours.

“I was contacted by the team a few months ago, even over a year ago about this role,” he continued. “I wanted to confirm that, with regards to the manager role, it won’t be me. I don’t feel ready. I feel honoured, though, that the team thought of me, but I’d rather leave another person to take it on.” 

Last month, Lotto Soudal team boss John Lelangue chose to step down from his role after four years at the helm of the squad. 

Lelangue’s decision came as the team faces the prospect of relegation from the WorldTour. Though this is still not mathematically certain, Lotto Soudal now appear too far adrift in the UCI points ranking, and are likely to be relegated along with Isreal-Premier Tech.

In his video, Gilbert outlined that the role of general manager is a mammoth undertaking that requires a wide range of experience. 

“Even after 20 years in cycling, I might have the experience in this little world but it’s still complicated because being manager means being in charge of a lot of employees.

“It’s not just the men's team, but also the youth team and the women’s team,” Gilbert added. “We’re talking about around 100 employees.”

The Belgian, however, did not rule out the possibility of becoming a team boss in the future. 

“It’s maybe a role that I’ll take later in life once I’ve got the necessary experience and I’ve had a bit of time to reflect,” he said. “I think first I need to find a goal in life, but maybe not a goal that’s so time-consuming and tiring.”

A former world champion, Gilbert called time on his professional career this weekend, finishing 27th in his final race, Paris-Tours. Over his 20-year career, the Belgian collected 80 wins, including victories in four out of the five Monuments. 

Speaking about his new, retired life, Gilbert said: “For the moment it’s all very new, everything’s going well, but I need to also find a balance.”

“Professional athletes, especially cyclists, aren’t well prepared [for retirement],” he added. “It’s a shortcoming in our sport that there’s no help, no support, no mental preparation. I’m lucky to be surrounded by good people.”

Lotto Soudal's general manager is set to step down at the end of this season, as relegation looms over the Belgian WorldTour squad.

On Thursday, it was reported in Belgian media that John Lelangue would be leaving Lotto, which was later confirmed by the team and by the Belgian himself. He has been at the team since 2018, during which time there has been a change at the top of the organisation, with a high turnover of riders and staff.

Sporza reported that the 51-year-old chose to leave, with Jannie Haek, the CEO of the Belgian National Lottery, who are one of the backers of the team, stating: “It was a decision by John Lelangue to leave the team, but we do it on the best of terms.”

The team are almost definitely going to be relegated from the WorldTour at the end of the season, with few races still remaining in which UCI points can still be picked up. 

While Lotto sit in 19th on the UCI's points table, they can take comfort from the fact that they have scored enough points to be invited to WorldTour events next year, unlike their rivals, Israel-Premier Tech. However, this will apply for just next season.

A statement from the team on Thursday said the decision had been made by "mutual agreement", and that a successor had not been appointed yet. There has been speculation that it might be Axel Merckx, who currently runs the Hagens Berman Axeon development team.

"The partnership between Lotto Soudal and CEO John Lelangue will end at the end of this season," the statement reads. "That decision was made by mutual agreement." 

"John Lelangue joined Lotto Soudal in 2019. Under his leadership, the choice was explicitly made for youth and several young talents managed to break through."

"With 25 victories, 2022 was the most successful of his period with the team. Lotto Soudal therefore wishes to thank John Lelangue for all his work and the way in which he has led the team."

"In mutual consultation, it was therefore decided to part ways after this season. A successor has not yet been appointed."

While this year has been much more successful for the team, it has been too little too late for Lotto, as they have been leapfrogged in the battle to remain in the WorldTour by others.

Earlier this season, Lelangue told Cycling Weekly that he would change jobs if he had to race defensively in order to gain points.

"At the end, our first aim is to take pleasure, to enjoy racing. To race with bravery, and to win races. At the end of the season, we will see."

Asked if other teams are already racing defensively, he says: "Honestly, yes, it is like this. But if I'm doing this, I will not take pleasure in racing, and I would prefer to change jobs."

On Thursday, the Belgian thanked the team for their support in a series of posts on social media.

"A few weeks ago, at the end of the Tour de France, I took the decision to step down from my role as CEO of Lotto Soudal at the end of the season," he said. "I informed the Board in August and I want to sincerely thanks for their confidence and support during those 4 years.

"I will be fully concentrate on running this team until the end of the season and I already took my decision of my future which will still be in cycling. I want to thanks my riders, staff, management for their work engagement during those last years. You are the best.

"I am wishing all the best to the Lotto Soudal teams (U23 and Ladies) and it was an honour to be part of this journey. I am really excited with the new challenge I accepted and we will be communicating soon about it. See you on the races."

Lelangue took over from Paul De Geyter, who had spent less than a year at the helm of the Belgian team. Previous boss Marc Sergeant was pushed into a less influential role before leaving altogether at the end of 2021, alongside fellow stalwart Herman Frison.

There have been hits like Arnaud De Lie, who has won nine races this year, but older signings like John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert failed to make an impact in their time at the squad.

At the end of this season, long-term co-title sponsor Soudal will switch to rival Belgian team Quick Step, with a replacement found in cloud telecoms company Dstny until 2024.

By the end of this season, Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto Soudal will have competed in over 100 events, 20% more than in a typical season. 

This program-stacking is highly unusual, but in 2022 it's not a total surprise. Both teams currently occupy the WorldTour’s two relegation places, and unless they pick up UCI points, they’ll lose their licences for the next three-year cycle. 

“If we had ridden more races in the last two years, I doubt that we would have been in the same situation,” Lotto Soudal team director Nikolas Maes tells Cycling Weekly. “The program we are doing is stuffed, it’s quite stuffed, and then you have the exceptional races that really take a lot of energy.”

By exceptional races, Maes is referring to the Japan Cup and the Tour de Langkawi, two events that require the team to send riders and resources to Asia to compete. 

For Lotto Soudal, these trips won’t be made in vain. As ProSeries races, each event offers 200 UCI points to the winner, and with the team currently 700 points adrift, any opportunity to add to their tally is to be seized. 

In fact, on 16 October, the team’s final day of the season, Lotto Soudal will field riders at four different races; Chrono des Nations, Veneto Classic and the two Asian ProSeries events.  

“For the riders, it’s like an extra mission,” Maes says. “They like the extra idea that there's not only the victory at stake in the race, but also the extra thing with the point system.”

In the latter half of this season, teams have been accused of sacrificing their chances of victory in favour of placing multiple riders in the top 10 for a more lucrative points haul. Maes believes this is not what the sport is about. 

“The basic idea of racing is to win the race,” the Lotto-Soudal team director says, “and if you’re second, you actually lose the race, in my opinion. So starting to preach to those guys to finish [with] five guys in the top 10, that’s really against the culture of cycling, I think, and I don’t want to speak these things to my riders.” 

Another team facing an uncertain future is Cofidis. The French team currently occupy 18th place in the team rankings, meaning they’d be the final team to secure their WorldTour licence if things stay as they are. Like Lotto Soudal, Cofidis are targeting a series of Belgian, Italian and French one-day races over the next month in a bid to score UCI points. 

“We’re gearing up to do 13 race days from now until Sunday,” Antoine Grenapin, a representative of Cofidis, told Cycling Weekly yesterday morning. “The whole team, staff and riders are fully mobilised to deal with this challenge.”

“We know that to keep our WorldTour status, we’ll need to go looking for big performances, victories, and everyone is aware of that in the team. Since the start of the season, we’ve known that we would have to fight in every race and that’s what everyone’s spirit is like.

“We’re really trying to give everything until the end of the season.”

For Israel-Premier Tech, the outlook is a bit more bleak. The team, managed by millionaire businessman Sylvan Adams, are currently bottom of the table, with only a slim chance of WorldTour survival. 

In a recent interview with Cyclingnews and Velonews, Adams said: “I am still hopeful that we will still end up on the right side of relegation, although it’s looking worse and worse.

The Israel-Premier Tech team manager went on to urge the UCI to cite “force majeure”, suggesting they make an exception due to the global pandemic and expand to 20 WorldTour teams for the next cycle. 

“If I lose, I am going to take them to court,” Adams said. “If I lose my sponsors and it costs me millions, somebody has to make me whole. If I show that they do not apply the rules consistently, I think I have a very good case.” 

The WorldTour relegation takes place in November, with points accumulated up to 18 October taken into account. Despite the impact of Covid-19 on the racing calendar, the UCI have said that no extenuating measures are currently planned. 

Maes says that this is something that his Lotto Soudal team will have to accept. 

“I don't 100% agree with the whole system and the way it's going because I think in the end the UCI should protect its teams,” Maes says. “But okay, at the end of the day, they decide how the system will go down, and we work with it.

“If we are not a WorldTour team [next season], the world doesn't end for us. And that's a whole different approach than saying it's do or die. That would create a lot more stress.”

Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) bemoaned the lack of sprint opportunities at this year’s Tour de France after Lotto Soudal missed out on a victory again on stage 13. 

The stage was won by Mads Pedersen (Trek-Segafredo) from the breakaway, after he outsprinted Great Britain’s Fred Wright and Hugo Houle (Israel-Premier Tech) in the final kilometre. 

Earlier on in the stage, Australian sprinter Ewan suffered a heavy crash after appearing to touch wheels with a teammate as they rounded a tight left hand bend. Ewan, complete with a nasty gash on his right elbow, looked visibly shaken as he struggled to get back to his feet and had to be assisted by Lotto-Soudal staff.

The Australian was left clutching his left knee, which was also cut, for a few minutes before eventually re-mounting his bike and attempting to re-join the peloton. 

After crossing the finishing line on a blisteringly hot day, Ewan  said: “I felt really good today actually. That’s why we started to commit our guys to controlling the breakaway and they were doing a really good job. They never got too far ahead, but yeah, I don’t know what happened in the corner.” 

He added: “My knee is really sore and my shoulder is pretty sore. I broke my collarbone last year, so hopefully that’s alright. Once I went down I didn’t feel so good anymore, and after a big chase to get back on before the final climb, I had nothing left really.” 

Just two stages this year have ended in a bunch sprint. Stage two was won by Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Dylan Groenewegen (BikeExchange-Jayco) was victorious on stage three. 

Ewan explained that at this point in the race, opportunities are running out for the pure sprinters. 

He said: “It’s stage 13 now and we’ve only had two bunch sprints. So yeah, it hasn’t been a great Tour for the sprinters. We saw today as an opportunity and we tried to take it, but yeah, bad luck again.” 

The Lotto-Soudal sprinter has suffered severe crashes before in his career. 

Earlier this year, Ewan competed in the Giro d’Italia and labelled this year's edition as “the Giro from hell.” 

Ewan suffered a crash on stage one of the race and continued to deal with the after effects of that throughout the Italian grand-tour. He later abandoned the race and did not start stage 12. 

Admitting that he was on a run of bad luck, Ewan said: "I feel like I need to catch a break with my luck. It is what it is, and it's part of being a cyclist. Sometimes you have a run of bad luck and I'm having that now but hopefully it turns soon."

Sunday’s stage into Carcassonne could give the sprinters another chance before Paris. Stage 19, which finishes in Cahors, is also an opportunity for a sprinter, although with Wout Van Aert, Jakobsen and Groenewegen all showing good form in this year's Tour de France, Ewan’s path to the stage win he craves is far from clear. 

Earlier this year the prospect of rolling down the start ramp at the Tour de France's opening time trial in Copenhagen felt impossibly far away for Reinardt Janse van Rensburg. He was on the brink of being forced to give up cycling.

The 33 year old had been a free agent after the collapse of Qhubeka-NextHash, at the end of 2021. 

After a rollercoaster few months, he then joined Lotto Soudal and tells Cycling Weekly being included in the team's line-up for the Tour de France, his sixth, has been a surreal experience. 

“It was quite unexpected. A few months ago I was thinking that I was going to have to retire and that my career was finished," he says.

"If you had told me even just a couple of weeks ago that I’ll be at the start of the Tour de France again, the biggest bike race in the world, I wouldn’t have believed you. It really has been an incredible ride! An amazing story and feeling. Yeah, I really am having to pinch myself a little bit about it." 

Within just five minutes with Janse van Rensburg, it’s clear that the South African rider is a fighter and that giving up over that bleak winter was never an option. 

“I was very motivated to train. I was always hoping and always believing that contracts even later in the year would come. I’d seen other riders do it before me so I knew it was possible. There was always a chance a spot may open up. I kept going and having the National Championships at home became a big goal and helped me to keep my focus,” Janse van Rensburg recalls.

“Having goals has always helped to keep me motivated in my head and to train” he added. 

Speaking ahead of the grand depart in Copenhagen on Friday, Janse van Rensburg told Cycling Weekly how special it would feel although his first would always remain a highlight. 

When Lotto Soudal unveiled its Tour team, the South African National Champion received messages from groups of well-wishers and fans that have all followed his story and were revelling in the news. 

“It’s been really incredible. I literally had hundreds of people sending me nice, personal messages and comments. It’s been actually amazing,” he says. 

“I just want to thank actually all of those people who messaged. A lot of people told me that they were inspired by my story which was so nice to hear” Janse van Rensburg adds. 

Lotto Soudal arrive at the Tour de France with ‘one of the fastest riders of the peloton’ in the shape of Caleb Ewan and first and foremost, will target stage wins with him. Janse van Rensburg’s role in the team will be to form part of Ewan's lead out train.

However, sprint opportunities at this year's race are scarce. Changes in the way the green jersey competition is contested also means that Janse van Rensburg doesn’t see the team considering the competition for now. 

“You have to be able to be competitive in the mountains and be in the intermediate sprints every day. So I actually think being a sprinter is really hard and winning the green jersey nowadays is a really difficult thing” he said. 

Regardless of results the opening  days of the race will be a time of celebration at Lotto Soudal as Tim Wellens celebrated 10 years on the team yesterday and Philippe Gilbert turns 40. 

Yet despite the upbeat atmosphere in the team, Janse van Rensburg admits that covid-19 is putting something of a dampener on proceedings. “There is definitely heightened awareness now [after the Tour de Suisse] compared to a couple of weeks ago. We’re taking all the precautions we can as a team to make sure everyone stays healthy. It’s returned to like before for us with masks, sanitising everything and just trying to keep in a group bubble, it’s not nice but I can totally understand why everyone is stressing about it right now” he said. 

In 2022, riders of the likes of Biniam Girmay (Intermarché–Wanty–Gobert) have put African cycling in the spotlight. The World Championships will be held in Rwanda in 2025. African cycling appears to be enjoying a rise in prominence.

However, Janse van Rensburg says the loss of Qhubeka-NextHash was a big blow and the impact is still felt. 

“It’s terrible that we don’t have that African team now. There are very few teams at a continental level," he explains. "I think opportunities are much harder now, you have to hope that your country has got a good national programme so that they can send you to races in Europe. Otherwise you have to rely on a sponsor or something like that to get to Europe and compete. We really need to have more teams from Africa, especially at lower levels, that can help people out there get noticed. There is a lot of work to be done to help things change” Janse van Rensburg said. 

The South African rider woke up in Copenhagen on Friday and pulled on the South Africa National Champion’s jersey before getting his Tour de France under way. Speaking ahead of the start the 33 year old admitted it would be a proud moment and one he was looking forward to. 

“I guess I might be biased, but I think it’s a very beautiful jersey and a lot of South African people have sent messages of support. It’s a very visible jersey which is nice for the South African fans as they can pick you out in the peloton” he said. 

“At the moment I’m also really looking forward to the cobbled stage five” Janse van Rensburg added, although the 33 year old was coy on his individual plans for the day. 

“It will depend on our tactics as a team for the day and the race situation. One thing is we will probably be one of the teams racing quite aggressively that day so hopefully at least one of our guys will be up there at the end.” Even making it to the beginning has been an achievement for Janse van Rensburg no matter where he finishes.

Lotto Soudal has confirmed its Tour de France line-up with the intention of targeting stage wins once racing gets underway. 

Australian sprinter Caleb Ewan will form a major part of the Belgian team's strategy, the 27-year-old will lock horns with Fabio Jakobsen (Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl) and Wout Van Aert (Jumbo Visma) in the hunt for victories on the race's sprint stages. 

“With Caleb Ewan we have one of the fastest riders of the peloton, he is our biggest chance on a stage win," explained Lotto CEO John Lelangue. "Therefore we have made sure he is well surrounded with Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Frederik Frison, Florian Vermeersch and Brent Van Moer," he added.

The five-time Tour de France stage winner's 2022 successes include stage wins at the Tour of Turkey, Tirreno-Adriatico, and the Saudi Tour. With Lotto currently facing World Tour relegation, Ewan's performance will be crucial to the team in the months ahead.

There are also places for Philippe Gilbert, Tim Wellens and Andreas Kron who will all target the hillier stages, where the likes of Ewan will be out of contention. 

Looking at the Tour de France 2022 route, with stage five's cobbles finishing in Arenberg, Florian Vermeersch and Brent Van Moer also make the team. 

Vermeersch finished second to Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) at the 2021 Paris Roubaix and will certainly be one to watch on stage 5. South African rider Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Frederik Frison also make the cut for the team. 

Lelangue highlighted the strength in depth of the Lotto squad and their ability to be involved on varied terrain “With these 8 we can play our part on almost every terrain in this Tour de France.” he said. The team are expected to be competitive throughout the Tour with a particular eye on stage 5. 

Lotto will be looking at getting riders into good breakaway opportunities meaning the focus isn’t all on Ewan to perform. 

He added: "Those last two will also definitely have highlighted the cobbled stage to Arenberg. Furthermore, Philippe Gilbert, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens have proven the last weeks to be in a very good shape. They will definitely be active in the more difficult stages and be present in breakaways.”

Lotto-Soudal have announced the signings of Reinardt Janse van Rensburg and Carlos Barbero until the end of the year, with the pair joining the Belgian-based team from May 1. 

Both Janse van Rensburg and Barbero have been without a team since Qhubeka-NextHash folded at the end of last year, and 33-year-old Janse van Rensburg was getting ready to call time on his career before he received the call from Lotto-Soudal.

"I am very happy with this opportunity," Janse van Rensburg said. “After last season I have prepared myself as I have always done, even though I did not have a team. Of course, sometimes it was difficult to keep making all the sacrifices without knowing if I would be able to race at the highest level. 

"But luckily, all those sacrifices are rewarded now. I am very motivated to make something good out of this. A period like I have had just now, makes you value the life of a pro cyclist even more.

“I am physically and mentally completely race-ready and I am looking forward to competing again. Lotto Soudal is a team full of youngsters which I have always followed with great admiration. I hope to make my experience of good use with the younger riders, while also getting some results myself.”

The South African hasn't raced on the WorldTour since the 2021 edition of Paris-Roubaix last October, though he has stayed sharp while being without a team. 

Janse van Rensburg became the South African road race champion in February, before finishing second in the African Continental Championships Road Race in Egypt last month. 

Meanwhile, Carlos Barbero's last race came at the Grand Prix d'Isbergues last September. Despite the lengthy lay-off, the Spaniard remained optimistic he would find a team for this season. 

“You have to keep believing," Barbero said. “And so I have always done, even though it was difficult at times. I am ready to prove straight away that I am worth this opportunity. Both by sharing my experience as in getting my own results.

“The history of this team is impressive. I am looking forward to being a part of this beautiful team myself.”

Lotto Soudal CEO John Lelangue is pleased to add depth and experience to the team's roster, with the decision to sign the pair coming in part due to the sicknesses the team has suffered this season. 

“They are experienced, race-ready and very motivated," Lelangue explained. "We will give them a chance until the end of the season and believe that they will fit in this team very well. They are grateful for the chance they are given and I am sure that they will prove their value for our young team.”

Racing with "bravery" is how Lotto-Soudal are achieving impressive results so far this season, John Lelangue, their general manager says, as his team heads into a crucial year.

The Belgian team have won seven races with four different riders so far in 2022, meaning they have tasted victory in 23% of events they could have. It is not even the end of February and the team are just five away from their total last year, which was 12. Only serial winners, and Belgian rivals, Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl have won more so far this season.

They are not alone in being a smaller team over-performing, with Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux achieving four wins (versus nine in 2021), the same as Cofidis (12 last year), and Arkéa-Samsic being on five (10 in 2021). This comfortably puts all four squads in the top-10 on the UCI rankings.

Lelangue explained that his squad's goal is to "take every opportunity to race with bravery, to race every race like it was the last one of the season".

This might be incredibly important, because at the end of the year new WorldTour licences are available, which means there might be some movement in the makeup of cycling's top teams. Lotto-Soudal are also set to lose Soudal as title sponsors from 2023, so this is also a factor in performing well this year.

Based on last year's UCI team rankings, Cofidis and Lotto-Soudal were in the 'drop zone', while Alpecin-Fenix and Arkéa-Samsic were two ProTeams which could be promoted. 

Points are earned by a squad's 10 highest-scoring riders at all UCI races, so every event matters. For example, for his overall win at the Saudi Tour, Lotto-Soudal's Maxim van Gils won his team 125 points, while Caleb Ewan's two sprint victories so far this year have netted 14 points each.

However, Lelangue insists that his Lotto team are not fighting purely on a points basis, and that he rejects a "conservative" approach to racing in order to win UCI points.

"We aim to take a lot of pleasure and to enjoy it. We are not looking to begin to count on points and everything. Because then from time to time, we would be racing defensively. We want to race offensively and we want to race to try to go for the victory, even if from time to time, it's better to put three guys in the top 20, than to be second. This is not the mindset, the mindset is to win races.

"It is not that I am not thinking about the points, but we are not making our strategy against other teams all around the points. We are making a strategy because we want to win races and we want to be offensive and we want to race with bravery."

It is a similar story with Intermarché. One of their sports directors, Aike Visbeek, explains they are working towards a system where they get the points "automatically" through achieving results, rather than aiming directly for points.

The Walloon squad have achieved good results so far this season, with a victory for new signing Alexander Kristoff proof of their investment. Biniam Girmay Hailu, a 21-year-old sprinter, has also impressed, winning once. They also won the overall at the Tour of Oman through Jan Hirt, their first GC win since joining the WorldTour. For this they earned 200 UCI points.

"I would lie if I would say we don't look at it [the points]," Visbeek says. "I think looking at the points is the last 5% of the planning. 95% is making sure that the team is in the right composition, that you have the right team planning for the guys so they can make good periods in the top shape. Getting several races that suit their qualities. 

"Then in the last 5% you can maybe make some smart choices, but to be honest, I was also internally discussing it. I would not do a hell of a lot different if I was not focused on the points. I mean, I would still have the leadout train for Kristoff with Pasqualon in it. 

"He's one of our riders that scores a lot of points for us, but he is now in the leadout train because we want to do results with Alexander. If you would narrow it down to a pure 100% points approach, you would not have Pasqualon in that leadout train."

On why his team have won almost half as many races as they did all of last year, Visbeek explains that the riders are focused and operating in a good atmosphere.

"We did a lot of work, we had to sign I think 11 riders this year," he explains. "We put a lot of focus on having the right guys with the right mentality. I think Alexander Kristoff was the right guy with the right mentality, he's really down to earth, a hard worker. I think that he fitted really well with the team. From the first team meeting in the beginning of November, we started training already and we were really focused on the team having a good start. 

"The riders that planned to be good, in the beginning of the season they were good, and that is always good for confidence. In all aspects it brings good confidence. I'm happy with how it's moving and it was also a reward for the hard work we did.

"For me, the big thing for the team was to start off in a good way this season," the Dutchman concludes. "By doing that, when you have guys doing the results, and the placings in the GC, what you create is that you take the points automatically, and then it is less of an issue. I mean, we have two good years behind our name. So we have to be careful we are not in stress, we are in a good situation."

The WorldTour has been around since 2009, but the UCI points system has had little scrutiny, possibly because there has not been much prospect of teams moving up or down from the WorldTour.

However, with new licences up for grabs from the end of the season, there is a fully-fledged battle for the points. ProTeams like Arkéa-Samsic and Uno-X have expressed an interest in joining the top table while others like Lotto-Soudal and Cofidis appear to be in danger of losing out. 

The 18 WorldTour spots next year will be decided on ethical, financial, administrative and organisational criteria, but it is the sporting element which has attracted the most attention.

For Lelangue and his Lotto team, this might mean targeting top-20 placings in order to win points to guarantee survival.

"The system of points is not in our advantage," the Belgian argues. "When Caleb [Ewan] is winning a stage against the best sprinters of the world in Saudi, he is taking 14 points, which is nothing. 

"In [the Clasica] Jaén Paraiso with three riders in the top ten I was taking 200 points [sic]. And in some 1.2 races at the beginning of the season, where the WorldTour teams are not allowed to participate, the second place in such a race is taking 30 points. This is the system but we have to agree with it like this." 

Instead of aiming for points, Lelangue insists that Lotto-Soudal are aiming for victories, and it is a strategy that has paid off handsomely so far.

"The first thing is that we have to be victorious, and then it will come by itself," he says. "If we have to race around the points, we would have a strategy against some of the other teams and also to be more conservative to be sure that I have three or four guys ending in the top 20. But this is really not fun. 

"So we'll do this. At the end, our first aim is to take pleasure, to enjoy racing. To race with bravery, and to win races. At the end of the season, we will see."

Asked if other teams are already racing defensively, he says: "Honestly, yes, it is like this. But if I'm doing this, I will not take pleasure in racing, and I would prefer to change jobs."

For now, Lotto-Soudal will focus on keeping up their form; now the first wins have been recorded, it might become easier to keep winning or challenging at bigger races, as the WorldTour rolls on.

"This is good when you feel this at the beginning of the season," Lelangue says. "You know that you're going for a big season. We need a bit of luck also we need to have luck about crashes, technical problems, the COVID situation. This is touching us like it's touching all the teams and we have to live with this for a few more months, and we will see, but we don't have to stress and we have to take pleasure and to enjoy riding the bike and going for the victory."

The Lotto manager concludes: "I told the guys I was in a situation 10 years ago in 2011 or 2010, where it was really hard. When I was with BMC and we had to wait for Flèche Wallonne, it was only in April when we won with Cadel Evans our first victory. When you are in this situation, there is always a lot more pressure and you are making mistakes. 

"But at least now we are done and we are enjoying every race and there is a good motivation between all the riders to know who will be the next one winning. It is taking the whole team to another level."

What were you doing at 18? You might have been at university, or just starting out in your first real job, you might have moved out of home. Juan Ayuso was dominating the Baby Giro, on his way to the WorldTour already.

Florian Vermeersch became a town councillor for the Open Vld party in Lochristi, East Flanders. The Lotto Soudal rider says that he “never imagined” that he would have been elected at such a young age.

“It just happened by coincidence,” he explains. “I know the mayor of our city, and I got a membership for the party. One day he came to me and he said, like, ‘For the next elections, we have one vacant spot, somebody cancelled because she doesn't have any more time for it. Are you willing to maybe fill in for her and just see what happens?’

“I said I will do it but I never expected to be elected. I got a chair, and it was really a special moment. I never imagined myself to be a councillor at the age of 18.”

Vermeersch is on the committee that deals with road safety and transport and the town: “It's the local stuff that really interests me the most.”

He dials in to virtual meetings when he’s on the road as a professional cyclist, but he misses the atmosphere of in-person council. “I don't really like online meetings, because it takes away the personal side of things,” he explains to Cycling Weekly. 

“I like it more when everybody's together in the council room, and you can argue and debate a little bit. Because when you do it in an online meeting, then someone has to take turns, and when someone is interfering with one another, you cannot hear anything.”

Being a councillor is not the only ball the young Belgian is juggling, he is a history student as well, at the University of Ghent. 

Keeping his studies up alongside his career as a professional cyclist is “not easy, but it's doable”. 

“The main advantage about the whole Corona situation is that the classes are uploaded online,” Vermeersch says. “So I missed a lesson on Tuesday, then I can rewatch it on Thursday. I don't have to miss anything. I have to thank the university for that as well. If I want to reschedule an exam, they wouldn't give me a hard time, they try to be as flexible as possible. 

“That's how I can still manage to do my history degree and, and my job as a cyclist. It's going perfectly at the moment.”

His main interests are in late 19th, early 20th century history, stuff around the fin de siécle, but especially the First and Second World Wars. He also enjoys studying antiquity, but it was military history which first brought him into the subject.

It helps that he is from East Flanders, where the scars of the world wars are still all too obvious: “Where my parents live, there is a bunker from the Second World War, like one kilometre away, just to give you an example. Then a race like Gent-Wevelgem starts under the Menin Gate. It's just the best of both worlds for me.”

Sadly, he can’t do much history sightseeing during races, but still tries his best. “In a race, it's hard. It's almost impossible,” Vermeersch says. “But in training, like when we do some recons or stuff, then it's not so hard to focus on other things as well. 

"When we did our last recovery ride before [Paris] Roubaix, we passed Compiegne, where the peace treaty was signed. That was something special for me and I told my team-mates about all that. That was pretty cool.”

There is much more to Vermeersch than history and politics, however. The 22-year old stunned everyone when he was the last survivor of the breakaway at October's Paris-Roubaix, and finished second in the Hell of the North at his first attempt.

The Flandrien beat Mathieu van der Poel in the final sprint, and finished well ahead of luminaries of the sport like Wout van Aert, and former winners like Peter Sagan and Greg Van Avermaet.

He was suddenly compared to Tom Boonen, another Belgian who cracked the Roubaix podium at his first attempt, back in 2002, and had to deal with all the media attention that comes with being a Belgian hope at a monument.

“The first weeks were really hectic,” Vermeersch explains. “I said to our press officer 'Okay, the first days, I will accept all the requests you want, but I still have to focus on Paris-Tours next week, so I want you to block off the interviews in the second part of the week'. 

“After the season, it got a little bit busier again, but because I didn't have to train, it was not much, I was not getting tired of it, you know? Then when I started training, there was not much going on because yeah, the road season is still so far away.”

His friends and family were a “little bit overwhelmed” by all the media attention.

“My friend said 'Stop it, you're everywhere at the moment, we see your face, way too much'. Now it's all back to normal sort of. It's just like last year.”

Now he has tasted the podium at Roubaix, his drive is even higher to repeat it or go one better at the monument.

“Now I know the feeling of riding the final and it's the best feeling in the world, that's why I became a professional cyclist,” he says. “Together with trying to win of course. Now my motivation to win that race is even higher because I was so close already. I could almost feel the win. So now I'm even more motivated to be on the top step one day.”

It is a race that undoubtedly suits him and his characteristics. The powerful Belgian has a background in cyclocross, which he thinks suited him in the particularly wet edition of Roubaix; he has never ridden a dry version.

“I wouldn't say I enjoyed it,” Vermeersch explains “But I didn't feel demoralised by it, you know? There were a lot of riders at the start who were like afraid or scared about the cobbled sections, because they obviously knew what was coming. 

“Maybe that was also my biggest advantage, that this was my first Roubaix and I didn't really know what to expect. But as a former cyclocross rider I was not afraid of the rain.”

Out of all the Classics, it is Roubaix that he dreams of: “I think it's fair to say that Roubaix suits me best. I'm, of course, a bit heavier than most of the guys in the peloton. And like, Roubaix is all about power, so I can say I feel this race suits me the best then. 

“All my qualities are closest to that race. But of course, the Flemish Classics are also really important to me. And I think they suit me extremely well, as well.”

Following up on his breakout performance will be hard, the difficult second album to his first hit. He is likely to be more marked, more of a known figure around the peloton. Vermeersch is aware of this, however.

“I think it will be hard to approach the race itself, the day itself, the same as last year because now more guys in the peloton and more teams will know me,” he says. “So it will be harder to get in the break again. I think I have to assume that it will be hard to be in the break again. 

“I will have to come now from the back with the other big engines. We will have to see, you know, there's also a chance that I'm in the breakaway again. With this race the first hour you never know. That's what I experienced this year. It's such a crazy race, especially in the rain. So yeah, we'll just have to wait and see.”

Vermeersch’s main strength is the power he is able to put down; he is also a competent time triallist, finishing third at last year’s under 23 World Championships. 

Perhaps it is more Fabian Cancellara that the young Belgian should be looking to emulate rather than Boonen, with the Swiss rider using his power to win three editions of Roubaix.

Time trialling is not his focus at the moment, but will be once the Classics season is over; he describes this as the “perfect combination”.

“I think if you are a good time triallist on long efforts, then you can also use this in the Classics,” he says. “It's not always about riding as fast as you can on one hill,  you just have to be able to hold a really high power for a lot of minutes or even a few hours. If you're able to do that in a time trial, then it can really help you in the classics as well.”

He rode his first Grand Tour last year, the Vuelta a España, and thinks that it has helped him already, despite a lack of notable results. His best finish was ninth on stage two, but that was not his main aim for the race.

“It was a really good experience for me,” Vermeersch explains. “The results were not the best. But for my development as a rider, I think it was really crucial. I did a lot of kilometres, a lot of climbing. I think it just made my engine bigger. I think I have more volume now. And I think it can really help me towards the big Classics.”

Vermeersch rides for Lotto Soudal, a team that has a lot of pressure riding on it this year. The Belgian squad finished near the bottom of the UCI’s rankings last season, and with three-year WorldTour licences being awarded at the end of this season, they need to get more wins on the board in order to stay at the top table.

Fortunately, they have already won five races with four different riders already this season, so they have started brightly. The team had a significant shakeup in its management structure over the off season, and Vermeersch reckons there’s a “new spirit” visible already.

While he says that he does not think about the rankings too much so far, he admits that it is a “reality” and “we need those points”.

“Generally speaking, there's a new atmosphere and a new spirit in a team,” he explains. “It's almost like everybody sees this season as a new start for us. We have a lot of young guys, including myself. It's an important year for us, because of the WorldTour ranking at the end of the year. The spirit was really high, and everybody was extremely motivated. 

“We think we also made some new positive steps towards a more professional approach. I think every rider was happy and is motivated to show the best of themselves. This was something I was a little bit afraid of in training camp before the season, because it's easier said than done, to make results. But now we already have five wins. I'm really happy to see that the spirit of the training camp is now also there in the races.”

That fear will hopefully turn into results for the 22-year-old, who is aiming to back up his promising first full road season with Lotto Soudal. 

To that end, he has been spending time at altitude, albeit in a hotel in Spain, Syncrosfera, where the conditions are simulated.

“It's a little bit different because now I'm in the hypoxic hotel,” Vermeersch says. “My strategy towards the first race of the season is a little bit different than last year. Last year, I did more preparation races towards the Classics. 

“I actually feel like I'm in better shape at the moment than last year. I did everything I wanted to and I didn't overdo myself. I think that was maybe a little bit of a mistake last year that I wanted to start training too hard, too early. This year, I did it a little bit smarter I think.”

He will make his season debut at the Tour des Alpes Maritimes et du Var, before diving straight into the Classics season at Omloop Het Nieuwsblad a week later.

Vermeersch’s big aim for the year is to prove that it was not a one off, to be in the final of a race again, hopefully a big Classic.

“This year, I hope to be part of a final,” he says. “I just want to have the feeling that I can compete for the win or for a top 10. Not necessarily win, of course, because I know it's really hard. I cannot expect that I will be on the podium of Roubaix again, this year.

“If I set my bar here, then I will be too disappointed. Then you can never be satisfied with your campaign. So I just want to keep the expectations for myself a little bit lower, and just see where I get. It's maybe kind of a cliche, but that's really how I will approach this Classics season.”

It sounds like he is grounded, and knows not to set his hopes too high, but do not count against the politician-cum-history student in big races, especially his favourite, Roubaix.

“I would be happy if I would be able to ride the final, to show myself,” Vermeersch concludes. “But the dream is, of course, to win a Classic. That will be the same every year. That doesn't change.

“It's not something I really expect for myself already this year. It's more like being up, having a good shape, feeling like I can compete, that I don't feel weaker than someone else. Hopefully, we can get a good result.”

Now he has tasted the sweet nectar of success at Roubaix, his goal is to experience that again over his career; he certainly has the skill, and the time.

Road cycling is back. It might still feel like the depths of winter in the UK or in America, but in the sunnier climes of southern Europe, men's elite road racing is back. Cyclocross might have dominated the news, but there were still some exciting things happening on tarmac.

In the coming week we have the first elite stage races to look forward to, but there has already been some action. In Mallorca, the five races that make up the Challenge Mallorca have taken place, with stars of the WorldTour winning the Trofeos. Meanwhile, the French racing scene got underway with the GP de Marseille. 

The WorldTour season does not kick off for another three weeks with the UAE Tour, while traditionalists insist that racing does not matter until Omloop Het Nieuwsblad a week later. However, you can't ignore the fact that professionals are already battling out for wins on the road this year. Here are some things we learned from the opening races of 2022.

Alejandro Valverde has still got it

This is Alejandro Valverde's 21st year as a professional cyclist. The man is 41. This year will be his final season before retirement, it has already been announced, but the Spaniard shows no signs of slowing down.

Back in 2002 his second race with his first pro team, Kelme-Costa Blanca, was part of the Challenge Mallorca, and this was how the Movistar rider chose to start his last season on the road. 

Three races, three top-six finishes, including winning the Trofeo Pollença-Port d'Andratx on Sunday. He sprinted away to victory out of an elite group which included Tim Wellens and Brandon McNulty, who had already won this year. 

Following the race, the 41-year old expressed his surprise that he was still winning, two decades after his debut. 

"It's something so difficult to achieve, both physically and especially on the psychological standpoint," he said. "I'm really surprised to continue doing well. When I was younger, I stated that I thought I wouldn't be in the peloton when I reached 34 – now I'm turning 42 in April, and I'm still racing, and winning."

It was Valverde's 131st win of his lengthy career, and he has won a race in every year of his career apart his neo-pro season, the 2011 season when he was banned for doping, and 2020.

While the level at Mallorca might not be the highest, this result proved that Valverde is not going to quietly shuffle off into retirement, there will be no rest until the very end.

Biniam Girmay might just be the Eritrean star cycling needs

Cycling is huge in Eritrea, so it is a huge shame that they have not yet had the breakout star that the country deserves and is desperate for. Merhawi Kudus is still on the WorldTour, now with EF Education-EasyPost, but others have faded away or not been offered opportunities in the first based by European-based pro teams.

Biniam Girmay might just be the breakout star. Second at the U23 World Championship Road Race back in October, the 21-year old signed for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert last year, and has already delivered for them in 2022.

He won the Trofeo Alcúdia-Port d'Alcúdia in front of established sprinters such as Giacomo Nizzolo, Pascal Ackermann and Michael Matthews, and impressed in what was just his sixth victory of his career so far.

Girmary is scheduled to race the Giro d'Italia, so it will be fascinating to see how he goes against sprinters on the highest levels, but this early season victory will be nothing but good for his confidence. Considering Intermarché only won nine races all last season, the Ethiopian will surely get more chances as the season goes on, as the team hunt for precious victories.

He has a contract until 2024 with the Belgian team, so he has plenty of time to bed in, and establish himself as a force in the WorldTour.

Lotto-Soudal love early season results, and they desperately need them

Lotto-Soudal, ever presents in the WorldTour, had a difficult 2021. They won just 12 races, the same in 2020, which was their worst return since 2010. With three-year WorldTour licences being awarded at the end of this season, it is imperative for the Belgian team to step up should they wish to stay at the top table.

Fortunately, they have already won two races this year. Tim Wellens won the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, before Arnaud De Lie won Trofeo Playa de Palma-Palma on Sunday. 

Not that early season form is new to Lotto-Soudal. The squad have won at least one race in January every year apart from 2021 since 2015, when they won on the first day of February. Even in the dry spell years of 2020 and 2021, they triumphed at the beginning of the season. What they need to do next is convert this into results throughout the season.

Whether this is because they just take the Challenge Mallorca more seriously than other teams, or they come into the season red-hot is up for debate.

One reason for their performances early in the year is Wellens, who has a habit of being on-song from the beginning. He has won the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana four times in his career, showing that the Mallorcan races are more than just a warmup for him.

Should Lotto wish to remain in the WorldTour, they will need more than just a couple of wins from their stars like Wellens, however. It will be interesting to see whether they can sustain it this year.

Brandon McNulty means business

Riding in the shadow of Tadej Pogačar must be difficult, and when UAE-Team Emirates signed more talented climbers, you feared for the future prospects of Brandon McNulty.

The American is a proven climbing talent, and was part of Pogačar's team at last year's Tour de France, but had not won for UAE until last week. He won the first day of the Challenge Mallorca, triumphing after attacking from 60km out and soloing to victory. 

That performance underlined how he is looking to go about this year, and the 23-year old backed up his level with fourth behind Wellens and second behind Valverde in the coming days. It served as a statement to his team that he means business this year and should not be forgotten about in a vastly talented squad.

Philippe Gilbert has said he is targeting "a good result in a big race" in his last season as a professional cyclist, but won't look for easy wins.

The former world champion will hang up his wheels after twenty years in the peloton, during which time he's won four out of the five monuments, only the sixth man in history to do achieve an almost clean sweep. 

In an interview in the final issue of Procycling magazine, Gilbert said: "Of course I want to win a race, but I want to be there in the final of a big race. For me, this is the most important thing. 

"I have never been the rider who has been chasing easy wins, like a lot of riders that I have seen in my career, and I have been looking for the nicest challenge instead."

He continued: "I've spent maybe 90 per cent of my career at the WorldTour level, against the best riders, and this will not change. I don't want to do small races just to get a win. If I'm in the top five at Nieuwsblad against the best I will be happy, I want to fight with them."

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The Belgian has not won a race since he moved back to Lotto-Soudal in 2020, with the pandemic and injury affecting his form. Not winning is something that he said he has struggled with.

"It has been two difficult years, two years to forget," he explained. "I hope to have a better last one. I don't like to be in this situation, and be behind, but you have to deal with it and I take this as experience also.

"I was working a lot, but I was far back behind where I wanted to be at the start. Last winter, I was really struggling, and with my age, it doesn't help. It was really hard to come back into the game, and then the season was so quick again."

Gilbert said he still has "a lot of motivation" to get results, and hopes he wins again. It will be a different feeling though, he said.

"When you are in this mood, when you always win, it becomes almost normal, and when you miss that you realise that it is really hard to win a bike race actually. I don't know how it will be when I come for a win next time, if I will be more nervous than normal, because it has been such a long time now. This is something I have never experienced, I am a bit curious about my reaction."

The 39-year old has won the Tour of Flanders, Paris-Roubaix, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Il Lombardia in his storied career, as well seven stages of the Vuelta a España. In 2011, he was undoubtedly the best cyclist in the world, as he won 17 races, including the Ardennes triple of Liège, Flèche Wallonne, and the Amstel Gold Race.

Reflecting on that year, he said: "I am really happy that I enjoyed those moments, and I was always aware of what I was doing. I was working hard, I sacrificed a lot. For that year, I was almost never home, I was always training and doing recons. There was a lot of work behind it. I realised that I didn't do it for nothing, because that year was one of the best years ever in cycling. It was some good times."

Gilbert is unique in the breadth of his wins, coming in all sorts of formats, from Paris-Tours to Il Lombardia. He explained that he admires the new generation of all-rounders, but one in particular.

"Pogačar is the exception," he said. "I saw Eddy Merckx speaking about him. Eddy has heard a lot of times that the 'new Eddy Merckx' is here, he has heard that every five years. I think only now we can maybe speak about it. He's able to win grand tours, big classics, and win from February to October. Win with big gaps, not by seconds, by minutes. 

"In Pogačar I think we will find a rider that you only find fifty years or so. And all the others, OK they're really good riders, but they still have a lot to do before they become really big champions."

Red is back for Lotto-Soudal in 2022, with the Belgium team launching a new kit for next season that is reminiscent of the colours they wore up to 2018.

On Saturday, the squad also announced that promising young rider Florian Vermeersch had extended his contract to the end of 2024. His second-place finish at October's Paris-Roubaix was a breakout result in a rather lean year for the team.

Lotto will return to a mainly red strip after a couple of seasons where black was the seemingly dominant colour. Apart from a white band around the middle for the main sponsors, and black around the cuffs, the kit is all in the vibrant hue.

It is reasonably similar to the strip worn by the team between 2014 and 2018, the André Greipel years, and is paired with classic black shorts. The team no doubt hopes to bring back the success of those years, after they won just 12 races in 2021.

Vermeersch will be among the 27 riders donning the red gear in 2022. This year was his first full season with the WorldTour Lotto team, having graduated from their under-23 squad. 

The young Belgian had a mixed season, with his classics campaign featuring six DNFs. However, he impressed at times, with his 16th-place being his team's best finish at the E3 Saxo Bank Classic.

Later in the season the 22-year old won the mountains classification at the Tour de Wallonie and achieved his first WorldTour top ten on stage two of the Vuelta a España. He successfully finished his first grand tour too.

After finishing third in the under-23 individual time trial at the World Championships in his native Belgium, Vermeersch impressed at Paris-Roubaix, being the final survivor of the early break and hanging on to clinch second in the famous velodrome, outsprinting Mathieu van der Poel.

"This contract extension gives me a lot of confidence towards the future”, he said in a team press release. "We share the same vision and it is nice to be part of an ambitious project in which a lot of youngsters can develop within a professional environment. I strongly believe in the quality and the build of a Classics team that can play a role in the most important races."

Vermeersch continued: "As a 22-year-old in a WorldTour team, you don’t always get the chance to immediately prove yourself. I’m really happy that I can discover my main strengths at Lotto Soudal, where I stepped up from the Development team. Apart from the confidence, it also creates a kind of family feeling. Through the years, you really bond with both the staff and riders, which was also an important factor towards a prolonged stay with the team.

"Next year, my focus will not only be on the Classics, I also want to improve my time trial skills. I think those two can be perfectly combined. And with a strong sprint, I have an additional weapon for the Classics. First and foremost, I hope to start the Classics next year in good shape and I want to show myself in the final”, the 22-year-old Belgian concludes.

The Belgian is one of only four riders with contracts through to 2024 at the team, alongside Victor Campernaerts, Jasper de Buyst and Caleb Ewan. Campenaerts returns to Lotto after two years with Qhubeka NextHash.

Also transferring to the squad are Rüdi Selig, Michael Schwarzmann and Cedric Beullens. There are further changes in the backroom staff, with former team boss Marc Sergeant and directeur sportif Herman Frison leaving.  Allan Davies and Cherie Pridham have joined as directeurs sportif for 2022.

Lotto-Soudal have revealed that world hour record holder, Victor Campenaerts, will be returning to the team after three seasons away at Qhubeka-NextHash, who are struggling to find a sponsor for 2022.

After leaving Lotto-Soudal at the end of the 2019 season after four years with the team, Campenaerts is one of the many Qhubeka riders forced to search for a new contract due to the financial uncertainty at the South African squad. 

The team run by Doug Ryder has told their riders to look for new teams for 2022, as they missed the first deadline to apply for WorldTour status, with Campenaerts able to find a home with his old team on a three-year contract. 

The 29-year-old Belgian has won eight times in his career, but only once with Qhubeka, a stage at the Giro d'Italia in 2021, out-sprinting Oscar Riesebeek (Alpecin-Fenix) from the breakaway on stage 15, which finished in Slovenia.

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Campenaerts spoke of his excitement to re-join Lotto-Soudal: "Obviously I was charmed by the great interest from different teams, but the interesting project and the clear ambitions of Lotto-Soudal were the deciding factor."

"I immediately felt confidence," he continued, "and it is of course also nice that in addition to a few riders, I also know many staff members well. I'm really looking forward to contributing to Lotto-Soudal's attractive way of racing, it's really exciting! 

"I look back with great pleasure on the past two years at Qhubeka-NextHash. It is more than a cycling team. The good cause associated with the team – giving children a chance for better education by bicycle – I will always have a warm heart for."

Qhubeka-NextHash, previously NTT Pro Cycling, exists to support South African non-profit organisation Qhubeka, which provides bikes to the communities throughout Africa.  

Team boss Doug Ryder, confirmed last week that his team are very keen to continue as a squad, but they need sponsors and fast with Ryder publicly asking for support from companies. 

Having struggled to find sponsors last year, Qhubeka was saved at the last minute thanks to a new contract with Swiss clothing company Assos, who joined the team as a headline sponsor.

On the eve of the 2021 Tour de France, the team then announced a new headline sponsor to replace Assos, as NextHash, a cryptocurrency firm, came on board as part of a five-year deal.

But the team reportedly struggled to pay wages in August, due to NextHash not meeting the financial commitments.

While Campenaerts has found a new contract, some of the other star name from Qhubeka are yet to announce new teams, including Giacomo Nizzolo and Domenico Pozzovivo, while Fabio Aru retires from the peloton.  

Campenaerts also spoke about how he is a changed rider and wants to focus more on the spring Classics: "I have lost my heart to the spring classics and I want to continue on the momentum of last season. That means attacking races, but also achieving results. 

"The two also often go hand-in-hand, because that way you can sometimes create a race scenario from which you can win. And with a lot of young people such as Brent Van Moer and Florian Vermeersch, there is an enormous amount of talent present. We can certainly play in the finals."

Campenaerts will also likely be a key component in Caleb Ewan's sprint lead-out train yet again.

Florian Vermeersch put in a truly astonishing performance to take second in his debut Paris-Roubaix, behind European champion and fellow debutant Sonny Colbrelli - but what do the Strava stats reveal about his ride? 

Vermeersch (Lotto-Soudal) rode a very smart race by getting up the road in a strong group of riders including former winner Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën). 

The 22-year-old Belgian managed to keep the bike upright and avoid punctures, before he was joined by Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious) and Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) as well as a few other riders such as Gianni Moscon (Ineos Grenadiers) and Guillaume Boivin (Israel Start-Up Nation).

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The ride Vermeersch posted to Strava was a 263.65km activity that took him 6-15-45, with an incredible average speed of 42.1km/h - considering the conditions and the terrain, an incredible feat.

Vermeersch's average power was 343 watts with a staggering peak of 1,476w with no KoMs going his way as the pace was slowed compared to the last few years due to the wet conditions.

At one point coming out of Troisvilles onto the first cobbled sector, Vermeersch, who was in the break of the day by this point, held 628w for over a minute.

As the break was forming Vermeersch also churned out some big numbers for a very long time with 492w being pushed through the pedals for over three and a half minutes.

His weighted average power according to Strava was 370w with his peak W/KG being 18.11w/kg. 

In the final half lap of the velodrome, Vermeersch produced 993 W for 18 seconds with the peak at 1,476w, but he couldn't hold off the powerful kick of Colbrelli.

His total work was a huge 7,743kj. It was a brilliant ride by him and by far his biggest result in his career.

Before Roubaix, his best finish was fourth at the Brussels Classic a few weeks earlier. He also managed a ninth overall in the Benelux Tour, which was won by Colbrelli.

As well as all that, one top-10 and a few top-20s in his debut Grand Tour, the Vuelta a España, and third place in the under 23 World Championships individual time trial, this season has been a superb one for the man from Ghent. 

He is next expected to race at Paris-Tours where he will be seen in a very different light as a potential big favourite.

Caleb Ewan has been confirmed as out of the 2021 Tour de France by his Lotto-Soudal team after crashing in the final straight of stage three on Monday.

The Australian has suffered a fractured collarbone according to his team, who will give a further update after he has been properly assessed. 

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It is still unclear exactly how Ewan came down, but he was following in eventual winner Tim Merlier's (Alpecin-Fenix) wheel as he began to stand up to sprint, when he veered to his left and crashed into Slovakian champion Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), with both riders hitting the deck.

The crash forced a number of the other sprinters wide and allowed Merlier to sprint to an easy win, his first in the Tour de France. His team-mate Jasper Philipsen was able to hold on to take second place, with Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), claiming third.

Sagan was able to get up from the crash and remount his bike to finish the stage, but Ewan looked immediately hurt, staying on the ground as he was attended to by race officials and team-mates. 

It's a huge blow to his team, which is almost entirely built around helping him to stage victories and getting in breakaways. The Belgian squad will now look to the experience of Thomas De Gendt and Philippe Gilbert to deliver them a win from the breakaway deeper into the race.

It will also be a massive disappointment for Ewan, who was aiming to take a stage win in each Grand Tour of 2021. The 26-year-old began that mission perfectly with two stage wins in the Giro d'Italia in May, and looked in strong form heading into the Tour after two victories in the Belgium Tour earlier in June.

Stage three of the Tour was marred by crashes; not only did Ewan hit the deck, but GC contenders Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) and Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma) both suffered injuries after crashes on the stage.

Lotto-Soudal rider Brent Van Moer was despondent after coming close to his first pro victory on Monday at the Ronde van Limburg in Belgium. The 23-year-old was solo into the final 500m of the 199.8km one-day race with around 10 seconds' advantage on the peloton chasing behind, but was erroneously sent off course onto a side road.

The course, which finished in Tongeren, contained a right-hand turn around 200m from the finish line, but a marshall on the road beforehand didn't seem to clearly direct the solo Van Moer to bear to the left-hand road, sending the Belgian off course on a different right-hand turn.

So narrow was the gap that by the time Van Moer had realised the error, the peloton had sailed passed him on the correct road where the race ended in a bunch sprint, won by Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix). Van Moer's team-mate John Degenkolb tried to rescue the race for Lotto-Soudal, but could only finish third on the uphill sprint, with Britain's Dan McLay (Arkéa-Samsic) taking second.

The wrong turn will be a particularly bitter blow to Van Moer after he'd put in such strong ride throughout the race. He made it into the early breakaway of three, and eventually went solo from Frederik Backaert (B&B Hotels) - who had bridged late from the peloton - on one of the final cobbled sectors in the last 20km, holding over 10 seconds on the chasing peloton under the flamme rouge.

It still would have been touch and go whether Van Moer would have held on for victory with the tricky uphill drag to the line, but he will rue what might have been after taking the wrong turn. Van Moer was visibly frustrated after taking the turn, banging his bars and yelling after realising his chance had gone.

Things aren't going much better for Lotto-Soudal in the other race taking place right now, with the Belgian team down to two riders in the final week of the Giro d'Italia. Thomas De Gendt was the latest member of their team to abandon the Italian Grand Tour, having ridden with knee pain for a large portion of the race.

Belgian squad Lotto-Soudal are now down to just two riders at the Giro d'Italia as Thomas De Gendt is the latest member of the squad to leave the race.

De Gendt, usually in multiple breakaways in Grand Tours, hasn't been able to get up the road at all due to pain in his knee. His abandonment means that only Stefano Oldani and Harm Vanhoucke remain in the race.

De Gendt tweeted this morning: "With tears in my eyes and pain in the knee I have to say goodbye to the Giro. I could not perform on my normal level the last 2 weeks and there was no improvement. The only right decision that could be made at this moment. I’m sorry to leave my 2 teammates behind."

Lotto-Soudal had a successful start to the race with sprinter Caleb Ewan taking two stages and the lead in the points classification before abandoning the race, also with knee pain. The Australian was due to leave the race early anyway as he looks to win a stage in every Grand Tour in 2021.

Polish rider Tomasz Marczyński was the next to go as he was suffering from long-Covid. Soon after him, Jasper De Buyst abandoned.

Kobe Goossens put in several excellent breakaway efforts but eventually also abandoned the race due to pains after a crash.

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After that, it was Roger Kluge, who was sitting in second-to-last place overall in the standings. He stepped off the bike with knee issues as well on the Monte Zoncolan stage.

This leaves Oldani and Vanhoucke, who were both in the breakaway on stage 15, yesterday.

Officially, the team can now downgrade to a camper van if they see the team bus as too big. This is allowed when a team has three or fewer riders left in the squad at a race. The two remaining riders will be hoping to hold on for the final week of the race.

Caleb Ewan says his Giro d’Italia 2021 stage victory comes as a relief, as he targets victory in all three Grand Tours in a single season.

The Australian sprinter announced the ambitious goal before the start of the 2021 cycling calendar, hoping to become only the fourth rider in history to win a stage of the Giro d’Italia, the Tour de France, and the Vuelta a España in a single year.  

After missing out on an opportunity on stage two of this year’s Giro, the Lotto-Soudal rider delivered on stage five with a characteristically remarkable sprint. 

Speaking after the stage, Ewan said: “It was a relief because my goal this year is to win in all three [Grand Tours].

“The first sprint didn’t go well so there was a lot of pressure on me and the team to do a good job today. [The team] outperformed themselves today, without them I couldn’t have been so fresh in the finish. We had good lines through all the corners in the last 20km and I think I just showed I had the best legs in the final.” 

After leading the bunch into the final kilometres, Lotto-Soudal dropped back on the final straight with Ewan forced to navigate from a long way back to launch his sprint.

Ewan was able to avoid an incident with Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) and launched his sprint late to pass Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) inside the final 50m. 

With one of three Grand Tour victories ticked off, Ewan said he plans to chase more victories in the Giro before turning his attention to the next target, the Tour de France.

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He said: “The goal to start with was one, so I've done that. 

“You know me, I'm pretty hungry to win as much as I can so this is good confidence for the team and myself going forward into the next few sprints as well.”  

Caleb Ewan fired from behind to win stage five of the Giro d'Italia 2021 from a bunch sprint.

The Australian (Lotto-Soudal) was perfectly positioned inside the final kilometre, but dropped back on the final straight and had to surge from a long way back to deny Giacomo Nizzolo (Qhubeka-Assos) right at the line.  

After a quiet day of racing, there were some major crashes in the final that took out a number of general classification contenders, with Pavel Sivakov (Ineos Grenadiers) and Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) both falling hard, with the latter unable to finish the stage and pulling out of the race. 

Alessandro De Marchi (Israel Start-Up Nation) finished in the bunch to lead the race for another day. 

How it happened

Stage five of the 2021 Giro d’Italia looked like a slow day of racing on paper, as the peloton took on a pan-flat 177km from Modena in the Emilia-Romagna region to Cattolica on the Adriatic coast. 

With no categorised climbs along the route, a motorway bridge being the highest point on the stage, it looked like a certain opportunity for the sprinters, who would be determined to secure the chance after missing out to the breakaway on stage three.

While the course was arrow-straight for the most part, there was no shortage of hazards in the final 5km, with a series of 90-degree turns, before the final sharp right-hand turn just inside the final kilometre.

Early in the stage, only two riders were willing to commit to the breakaway, with Filippo Tagliani (Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec) and Umberto Marengo (Bardiani-CSF-Faizinè) attacking from the flag and immediately pulling out a gap.

The Italian pair dangled off the front of the peloton until the intermediate sprint point just over 100km from the finish, before they sat up and rejoined the main group of riders.

There were no more moves from the bunch until 46km left to race, when Simon Pellaud (Androni) and Davide Gabburo (Bardiani) launched a move and went clear, enjoying a modest margin. 

With just over 20km to the line, Agr2-Citroen’s Alexis Gougeard tried his luck and attacked from the bunch, bridging across to the late breakaway duo.

But inside 18km the escapees had just 10 seconds on the peloton, as all the sprint teams got into formation to chase down the move. 

The string of roundabouts and sharp turns were already causing chaos in the bunch, with Tejay Van Garderen (EF Education-Nippo) taking a fall and other riders forced to take evasive action to avoid the road furniture. 

GC riders weren’t safe from the dangers either, as Ineos Grenadiers co-leader Pavel Sivakov was pushed wide on a long straight road, forcing him into a tree and falling hard.

The Russian was able to swap bikes and remount, but looked to be in some pain and wasn’t able to chase the peloton with any conviction, knocking him out of the GC race. 

As the race entered Cattolica with 5km left to race, the breakaway trio still had 12 seconds over the bunch, as the twists and turns favoured the smaller group, but the peloton was motivated behind. 

Another huge crash came inside the bunch, as three riders hit a traffic island at high speed, with Mikel Landa (Bahrain-Victorious) among those going down, as the Spaniard stayed down and looked injured.

At 3km the break was caught with Lotto-Soudal leading through the turns, Ewan in second wheel, with Bora-Hansgrohe and Peter Sagan next in line. 

Hitting the final turn of the day, Bora led with Sagan, Merlier and Ewan all positioned at the front of the bunch. 

Inside the final 200m, Cofidis rushed forward for Viviani, who was the first to launch his sprint on the slight uphill gradient.

But Nizzolo hit the wind and looked to have run away with the victory.

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Ewan was caught behind Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix) who appeared to have a mechanical problem, with Ewan being pushed into the barrier.

Unphased by the moment Ewan launched his sprint from a long way back, cutting across the road to move to the outside and blasting past the slowing Nizzolo in the final 50m to take the win. 

The race continues with the first mountain finish of the 2021 Giro,160km to 15km Ascoli Piceno climb. 

Giro d'Italia 2021, stage five: Modena to Cattolica (177km) 

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto-Soudal, in 4-07-01
2. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) Qhubeka-Assos
3. Elia Viviani (Ita) Cofidis
4. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe
5. Fernando Gaviria (Col) UAE Team Emirates
6. Matteo Moschetti (Ita) Trek-Segafredo
7. Andrea Pasqualon (Ita) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
8. Dylan Groenewegen (Ned) Jumbo-Visma
9. Manuel Belletti (Ita) EOLO-Kometa
10. Davide Cimolai (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation, all at same time

General classification after stage five 

1. Alessandro De Marchi (Ita) Israel Start-Up Nation, 17-57-45
2. Louis Vervaeke (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix, at 42s
3. Nelson Oliveira (Por) Movistar, at 48s
4. Attila Valter (Hun) Groupama-FDJ, at 1-00
5. Nicolas Edet (Fra) Cofidis, at 1-15
6. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 1-24
7. Remco Evenepoel (Bel) Deceuninck - Quick-Step, at 1-28
8. Alberto Bettiol (Ita) EF Education-Nippo, at 1-37
9. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Education-Nippo, at 1-38
10. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers, at 1-39 

Andreas Kron took stage one of the 100th Volta a Catalunya ahead of the Spanish champion Luis León Sánchez into Calella.

Kron (Lotto-Soudal) went on the attack on multiple occasions before getting away late on with Sánchez (Astana-Premier Tech) as well as Lennard Kämna (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Rémy Rochas (Cofidis), who he managed to out-sprint at the end.

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The day was a fast one with Bora-Hansgrohe starting the work on the front for Peter Sagan before Movistar took over on the biggest climb of the day, dropping Sagan and many others. The Spanish team continued the pace on the descent but the attacks came on the valley bottom with the decisive move.

Kron now leads the overall standings with the same time as the three other riders in the break and a further 16 seconds to the chasing peloton as they head into the individual time trial on Tuesday's stage two.

How it happened

The stage started and finished in Calella after taking in three categorised climbs over a 178.4km loop that finished on the flat.

Four riders went up the road early on in the day, including Natnael Berhane (Cofidis), Sylvain Moniquet (Lotto-Soudal), Rein Taaramäe (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert) and Gotzon Martín (Euskaltel-Euskadi), who established a maximum gap of around four minutes.

The pace was relatively high for most of the stage with Bora-Hansgrohe working hard for Sagan who was looking like he was coming into form after an excellent fourth place at Milan-San Remo on Saturday.

But, with 65km to go Movistar came to the front en masse quickly seeing Sagan going out of the back as they hit the second and highest climb of the day, the Port de Santa Fe del Montseny.

The break was caught just after the peak with Moniquet the only rider left after he went solo to take maximum points in the mountains jersey competition on the climb.

Chris Froome (Israel Start-Up Nation) was yoyoing on and off the back of the peloton until 48km to go when he lost touch leaving his leaders of Michael Woods and Dan Martin up near the front.

Movistar led all the way down the descent with riders attacking on the valley road at the bottom with Andreas Kron making a move with 28km to go. The peloton then had a series of attacks forming a lead group that contained Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers), Giulio Ciccone (Trek-Segafredo), George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) all within it.

That group didn’t work well together so with 20km to go, Luis León Sánchez went away with Kron, Kämna and Rochas and quickly pulled out a gap. The peloton was disorganised with attack after attack instead of teams coming up to chase, as the gap dragged out to 35 seconds with 19km to go.

With the break hitting the final climb of the Port de Collsacreu they held 41 seconds over the peloton with 17km to go; the climb just over a kilometre long. It was Trek-Segafredo, BikeExchange, and Movistar who came up to work on the front of the peloton.

As they went over the climb the gap had dropped to 28 seconds but the descent and wind favoured the break with 15km to the line. They made it to the flat main road into town with a 43 second gap at the 5km banner.

Ineos Grenadiers took over in the chase with 4km left of racing which brought the gap down to inside 30 seconds.

But it wasn't enough to pull them back as the four riders sprinted it out for victory. Kron came out on top coming from the back of the group pipping the Spanish champion Sánchez to the line.

Stage two in the 100th edition of the Volta a Catalunya is an individual time trial, which could see the general classification change dramatically before stage three and the big mountains.

Results

Volta a Catalunya 2021, stage one: Calella to Calella (178.4km)

1. Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto-Soudal, in 4-20-15

2. Luis León Sánchez (Esp) Astana-Premier tech

3. Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis

4. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time

5. Dion Smith (NZl) Team BikeExchange, at 16 seconds

6. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious

7. Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe

8. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team

9. Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo

10. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-Nippo, all at the same time.

General classification after stage one

1. Andreas Kron (Den) Lotto-Soudal, in 4-20-15

2. Luis León Sánchez (Esp) Astana-Premier tech

3. Rémy Rochas (Fra) Cofidis

4. Lennard Kämna (Ger) Bora-Hansgrohe, all at same time

5. Dion Smith (NZl) Team BikeExchange, at 16 seconds

6. Matej Mohorič (Slo) Bahrain Victorious

7. Ide Schelling (Ned) Bora-Hansgrohe

8. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar Team

9. Alexander Kamp (Den) Trek-Segafredo

10. Michael Valgren (Den) EF Education-Nippo, all at the same time.

Caleb Ewan has revealed he practiced following attacks on the Poggio “many times” before Milan-San Remo 2021.

The Lotto-Soudal sprinter was hugely impressive in the final of the Italian Monument, holding position at the front of the peloton on the final climb and fending off attacks from Julian Alaphilippe and Wout van Aert. 

Despite making it into the sizeable group that went to the line, Ewan was forced to settle for a podium finish as Jasper Stuyven (Trek-Segafredo) powered clear with an attack 2km from the line. 

Speaking after the stage, the 26-year-old Australian said: “I knew coming into the race I was in good form, like most years I target this race and this year I've really tried to improve my climbing and I’ve even practiced that exact attack on the Poggio many times before this race, and that’s why I knew that in the end I should be able to follow the attacks. 

“I was in a good position for most of the Poggio and then when they went I was suffering a bit, but I had enough left to follow them and I was actually quite comfortable.” 

On paper, Ewan was the fastest man in the 17-rider group that finished together on the famous Via Roma, with Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix), and Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) also making the selection. 

But as Stuyven powered his way to the line, the chasers were unable to work together as no rider wanted to compromise his chances in a sprint if Stuyven was caught.

Ewan said: “It would have been nice to have one [team-mate] there to keep it together because I know that if that group’s together I’m usually the fastest guy there.

“It’s always a lottery in that situation because there’s  always going to be attacks and you have to just wait, because I can’t go to the front and bring every attack back. 

“I have to take the risk and I did what I had to do to win, in the end we waited too long.”

Despite finishing second, Ewan said the result was a disappointment, as it was the second time in his career he has narrowly missed out on the win, finishing behind Vincenzo Nibali in 2018. 

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He said: “The first time I was second it was a really good result, that confirmed I could potentially win the race one day.

“I’m pretty disappointed this time.” 

Tim Wellens took stage three of Étoile de Bessèges 2021 solo after getting up the road with a huge breakaway made up of some superbly strong riders, attacking on the descent of the final climb with 16km to go.

Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) pushed on and capitalised on Michał Kwiatkowski (Ineos Grenadiers) who almost crashed on the descent as he looked to push on from the group.

The peloton never got inside a minutes gap to the break with the peloton splitting to bits in the final 20 or so kilometres.

Belgian rider Wellens took the stage by 37 seconds over the rest of the break that was led in by Edward Theuns (Trek-Segafredo).

Wellens takes the overall lead by 44 seconds over Theuns and 46 seconds to Mads Schmidt (Israel Start-Up Nation) in third.

>>> Finish of Étoile de Bessèges stage sparks safety concerns

How it happened

The peloton started in the town of Bessèges before taking on an extremely lumpy first half of the stage with three categorised climbs with plenty of uncategorised ramps, before the terrain flattened out to head back to Bessèges after 154.5km.

The initial break was formed of Wellens, Philippe Gilbert, Stefano Oldani (Lotto-Soudal), Greg Van Avermaet (Ag2r-Citroën), Michael Gogl (Qhubeka-Assos), Schmidt, Odd Christian Eiking (Intermarché-Wanty Gobert), Jake Stewart, Julius van den Burg, Alexys Brunel, Benjamin Thomas (Groupama-FDJ), Nils Politt (Bora-Hansgrohe), Theuns, Bryan Coquard, Cyril Barthe (both B&B Hotel-Vital Concept), Clément Carisey (Team Delko) and Marti Marquez (Kern Pharma).

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The maximum gap for this huge break - which did also briefly feature the likes of Vincenzo Nibali (Trek-Segafredo) - maxed around the three minute mark before the race leader Christophe Laporte's team Cofidis as well as EF Education-Nippo took the lead with about 85km to go.

With around 45km to go the gap had been hacked down to 2-16 with stage two winner, Timothy Dupont's team Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles, taking to the front with Alpecin-Fenix's Belgian champion Dries De Bondt pacing as well as Total Direct Energie also joining.

This saw the bunch begin to cut the gap down, but with 26km to go the advantage was still out at 1-50 to the break that didn't look to be struggling.

Edvald Boasson Hagen (Total Direct Energie) was one of the riders drilling it on the front of the peloton, showing he wasn't going for the sprint after a nasty crash the day before.

Rigoberto Urán (EF Education-Nippo) joined his team on the front of the peloton to try and help pull the break back with 20km to go, it was brought down to 1-20 before Boasson Hagen pulled off then the gap went back up to 1-40 with 16km to go.

Theuns set off on an attack at the 16km mark but Kwiatkowski went over the top, stretching the break out and dropping multiple riders with Barthe being the only rider able to follow the initial move.

But Kwiatkowski went a bit too deep on a corner and almost came off the bike, luckily staying upright, but it was Wellens who had pushed on leaving the rest behind with 13km to go.

Behind the peloton seemed to be panicking with multiple attacks on the final climb of the day, led by Anthony Turgis (Total Direct Energie), but nothing really stuck as the gap had stretched to 2-00 again.

Wellens quickly pulled out a 26 second gap over the Bernal-led chasing break group and looked strong with 9km to go.

The Lotto-Soudal rider crossed the finish line for the first time with 7km to go, 18 seconds back to the chasers led by Kwiatkowski.

Wellens was uncatchable and he took the stage with a 37 second gap to the Theuns-led breakaway. Wellens goes into the orange overall leaders jersey by 44 seconds.

Results

Étoile de Bessèges 2021, stage three, Bessèges - Bessèges (154.5km)

1. Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto-Soudal, in 3-28-02

2. Edward Theuns (BEL) Trek-Segafredo, at 37 seconds

3. Mads Schmidt (DEN) Israel Start-Up Nation

4. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) Ag2r-Citroën

5. Philippe Gilbert (BEL) Lotto-Soudal)

6. Cyril Barthe (FRA) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept

7. Jake Stewart (GBR) Groupama-FDJ

8. Nils Politt (GER) Bora-Hansgrohe

9. Michael Gogl (AUT) Qhubeka-Assos

10. Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same tim.

General classification after stage three

1. Tim Wellens (BEL) Lotto-Soudal, in 10-17-38

2. Edward Theuns (BEL) Trek-Segafredo, at 44 seconds

3. Mads Schmidt (DEN) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 46s

4. Michał Kwiatkowski (POL) Ineos Grenadiers, at 48s

5. Philippe Gilbert (BEL) Lotto-Soudal, at 49s

6. Jake Stewart (GBR) Groupama-FDJ, at 50s

7. Greg Van Avermaet (BEL) Ag2r-Citroën

8. Michael Gogl (AUT) Qhubeka-Assos

9. Cyril Barthe (FRA) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept

10. Clément Carisey (FRA) Team Delko, all at same time.

Caleb Ewan is looking to become only the fourth rider ever to win a stage at all three Grand Tours in a single year and has now announced his early season races that he will ride as a warm-up.

Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) announced that he would go for this record earlier in the year but has only now confirmed what races he will be attending as a build-up for his first Grand Tour hit out at the Giro d'Italia in May as he looks to be added to the list of Miguel Poblet (1956), Pierino Baffi (1958), and Alessandro Petacchi (2003), who all achieved the feat.

The Australian sprinter will start off his racing year at the UAE Tour where he will go up against some of the world's fastest riders like Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) Fernando Gaviria (UAE Team Emirates) and Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe).

After that he heads to Italy for Tirreno-Adriatico before starting a short Classics campaign at Milan-San Remo and then the 'sprinter's Classic' of Scheldeprijs before heading to the Giro.

You would imagine that riders like Eddy Merckx or Mark Cavendish (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) would have got this record, but they never managed it.

Ewan's ambition could be a new aim for the sprinters to battle over, as the time triallists have the Hour Record and the climbers have never-ending lists of records to chase, but the sprinters don't have many long-term challenges aside from Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) extending his green jersey record at the Tour.

Ewan currently has nine Grand Tour stage wins with five at the Tour, three at the Giro, and just the one at the Vuelta. He will be hoping that the Vuelta is a bit kinder than usual to the sprinters after the first stage of last year's race was a summit finish.

The likelihood of him beating the most wins in the record though is unlikely as Petacchi won a very impressive 15 stages over the three races around Italy, France, and Spain.

Thomas De Gendt and Tim Wellens have set a new fastest time on the famous Vall d’Ebo climb during a training race.

Lotto-Soudal rider De Gendt and his compatriot smashed the previous fastest time on the climb, located just inland from Spain’s Mediterranean coast, topping the Strava leaderboard ahead of their team-mates. 

The Belgians climbed the 7.88km-long, 5.6 per cent average gradient ascent in a time of 16-37, beating the previous best time of 17-02 set by local rider Dario Gadeo in August last year.

Their record was set during a Lotto-Soudal training ride, as the WorldTour squad are currently holding their winter camp in Costa Blanca.  

As part of their training programme, the Lotto riders took on a 10-minute power test on the climb, topping the effort off with a full gas sprint to the summit. 

Wellens and De Gendt rode to the line in a photo finish at the summit of Vall d’Ebo, which is a popular climb for the pros training in the area. 

De Gendt revealed after the effort that the team had planned to do a 20-minute max-power effort, but that the climb wasn’t long enough.

Instead riders put in a huge 10-minute effort and continues racing to the top instead. 

The power on display was also pretty phenomenal, with De Gendt pushing a huge 470 watts for the duration of the climb, with Wellens holding 463w with a heart-rate of 169 beats per minute.

De Gendt also said his power was 10-20w lower than if he had just been riding his 10-minute maximum power.  

Both riders crested the climb with an average speed of 28.5km/h, while the next fastest rider was Andreas Klon, seven seconds behind his team-mates.  

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The effort was also part of a 139km, four-hour ride for the Lotto squad that took in 2,000 metres of elevation gain. 

Matthew Holmes is just clearing out his garage for a turbo session when he picks up the phone.

That is the life of a British WorldTour cyclist in January 2021, currently unable to join up with his Lotto-Soudal team-mates at their training camp in Spain, instead having the time to reflect on his first year in the WorldTour as well as what the next could bring.

With the performances of Tao Geoghegan Hart and Hugh Carthy towards the end of 2020, it's easy to forget that before the pandemic, before the season break, Matthew Holmes was the first among the next generation of British WorldTour riders to get the year off to a winning start at the Tour Down Under, the surprise vanquisher of Richie Porte up his preferred Willunga Hill.

"Obviously I'm glad it happened, I don't really think about it ever," Holmes says of the day he announced himself to the wider cycling world. "It just sort of feels normal now, I suppose, being in the WorldTour. And that [win] definitely helped to make it feel more normal, that it wasn't impossible. I get reminded by lots of people about it.

"It sort of set me up for the year and made it a lot more stress-free. Of course, I was still trying to win stuff but it was nice to have already done more than they would have expected in my first year."

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This type of understatement, not getting carried away with being part of the WorldTour™ is who Holmes is. This mild-mannered, quietly determined demeanour is characteristic of the new British generation that is rising to the top. Like contemporaries Hugh Carthy and James Knox, there is a humility and earthliness to them that for the acerbic Wiggins and Thomas has long evaporated, as necessitates the ascension to Tour de France glory and all that comes with it. For now at least, Holmes and his peers can be more candid and the top tier of cycling is still too shiny a thing to feel fatigued by.

"I suppose in some ways it was the same, [the WorldTour] was just bike racing. I've done a lot of Tours of Britain and Tours de Yorkshire so I know what it's like in the WorldTour," Holmes says. "It's definitely a lot nicer riding for a WorldTour team than a Continental team because you get more respect and you feel like you're allowed to race it more, you don't get bullied in the pack. So that was a big difference. Other than that it's much the same, obviously, it's a lot quicker but in a way that suits me, it doesn't mean it's that much harder just that everything is moving a lot quicker."

At the time of his win in Australia, the new Lotto-Soudal man said the pace of the top-level wasn't the problem, he could turn the pedals just as fast as his rivals, but rather it was acclimatising to the racecraft which he thought might hold him back.

"At the start of the year I found it really difficult to adapt," Holmes says. "I'd just got on a brand new bike and changed everything, including which way around my brakes were. I think I'd ridden it for maybe a month or two but I was still really struggling with that.

"But I didn't really make the connection and I thought I was just crap and couldn't handle it. The day [in the Tour Down Under] into the first hilltop day that Porte won was just a really fast descent where you didn't have to brake at all - but you really wanted to, it was just terrifying. And there I was, supposed to be trying to get to the front and I think I was dead last at the bottom of the climb. That had me questioning whether I could do it or not. I really wasn't sure if it was for me and then two days later I was winning. It was a bit of a turnaround."

Turnaround is an appropriate word, as before he signed for the Belgian squad in 2019, nearing his 26th birthday, he thought his chance to reach the WorldTour had already passed him by.

"I had given up really on ever making it to the WorldTour," Holmes admits. "When I was coming through juniors and U23 I was certain I was good enough to do it but you get so many setbacks and just feel like it's never going to happen. I'd sort of resigned myself to that fact.

"I suppose the main reason it did happen was the team [Madison Genesis] ending because that was the real kick up the backside: 'either sort yourself or you have to get a normal job'. In a way, it worked in my favour."

It hasn't taken him long to adapt either, and with the benefit of hindsight thinks it's a good thing he took a while to reach the top level, even during a time where youth is the fragrance everyone in the peloton wants to be wearing.

"It's sort of strange, I don't feel...nervous or anything, I just feel like I've earned it and I'm old enough. I can go straight in and be competitive whereas if I'd gone in at 21 I don't know if I could have handled it really, it would have been too hard and too much. I don't know how I'd have taken it."

Any pressure he feels doesn't come from the team, but from himself wanting to prove he's earned a seat at the table. In contrast, Holmes is in some ways keen to take the WorldTour off its pedestal, not in an arrogant way, but by staying true to what got him there, doing his own training and then turning up to races. Even his debut Grand Tour appearance at the Giro d'Italia in October is brought down a peg or two.

"Obviously [the Giro] was a strange one this year and I'm not sure how it compares to the Tour de France, I'd assume that's harder still," Holmes estimates. "It went alright, you get into it. You ride your bike every day at home so it's just like three really hard weeks. Nothing superhuman like it seems on the telly."

In Italy, he watched on as compatriot Tao Geoghegan Hart won the maglia rosa, before Hugh Carthy, who lives only 30 minutes up the road in Preston from Holmes' native Wigan, made the podium at the Vuelta a España.

"I think riding my first Grand Tour showed me just how difficult it is [to win] but also the people who are winning it are the people I've grown up with," Holmes says of the inspiration he can take from watching fellow Brits make their Grand Tour breakthroughs. "They're showing that it's doable...I'm not sure how you get there but it does give me the motivation to do it because...I'm not saying I can climb as well as any of them but maybe it's just time in the WorldTour that makes the difference.

"It definitely does make you think 'cor, if he can do it then why can't I get on the podium'."

While Holmes says his Tour Down Under win is consigned to a recess of his brain to savour at a later date, his near-miss at the Giro when he found himself in the stage eight breakaway from which Alex Dowsett won clearly still lingers in his memory.

"I don't formally set any goals [for the season ahead] but I suppose I'd like to win a stage at a Grand Tour because I got close to it. I was annoyed, I felt I was probably the strongest there but threw it away, in a way, by not chasing Dowsett, and then messed up the sprint for second as well. I know it's doable now and just need to get it right next time because I've been close. Apart from that, I'm still trying to figure out what races I like."

What he does know is what he'd like to achieve by the time he's done. Holmes wants to ride all three Grand Tours and win stages at each. Maybe also a national title, as he's not managed that just yet, and if there's time to squeeze in a trip to the Olympics, that'd be nice too. "I want to experience as much as I can, as I've come in late".

But crucially, he's not out on Wigan roads riding like a madman gripped by the need to win a Tour stage, refusing to rest until it happens. Instead, Holmes provides a more romantic vision of cycling, maybe one more similar to you or I reaching the top of an insignificant hill on a quick 30km spin, imagining it to be Ventoux.

"Definitely not, I don't think like that, I just enjoy training. I suppose I do daydream a bit and then find myself riding really hard," he laughs. "I try to just be as normal as possible, I'm not crazy, living on my own eating salad, going mad. I just try to live a normal life and do as much normal stuff as possible and I think that's just good, and good for performance."

Normal?

"It's not a normal life is it," Holmes corrects himself. "Training and sitting around all day, going for a walk, doing some DIY, doing whatever you want.

"I've found since moving out of my parents' house, that when you have loads of stuff to do it's just much better, because otherwise I just sit there and think 'oh god, my legs are looking a bit bad, oh...what am I doing'. It's not good to have nothing to do."

There we have it, folks, the pros sit around worrying about how rubbish their legs are, just like the rest of us.

Tim Wellens claimed his second victory of the Vuelta a España 2020, out sprinting Michael Woods to the line on stage 14.

Wellens (Lotto-Soudal) managed to hold off a fast finishing Woods (EF Pro Cycling) thanks to a very sharp left handed just before the line which the Belgian led into.

Both riders had been part of the day's main breakaway, which had looked like it was going to come back as the peloton brought the gap down to 1-20 before they sat up and let them go.

Behind, Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation) led the peloton that had been broken to pieces on the climb to the line with race leader, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), finishing safely in the group and keeping his red jersey.

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How it happened

The riders started in the town of Lugo and took on a 204.7km undulating route to Ourense with everyone expecting a breakaway victory.

A huge break went away early on, but the peloton brought that back before seven riders went up the road.

In the break there was Marc Soler (Movistar), Woods, Dylan van Baarle (Ineos Grenadiers), Thyman Arensman (Sunweb), Wellens, Pierre-Luc Périchon (Cofidis) and Zdeněk Štybar (Deceuninck - Quick-Step).

The break managed to pull out a gap of just over five and a half minutes before teams who missed out on the break started riding in the peloton.

Astana were the first team to come up and try and pull it back and they pulled the gap down to around four minutes before they started to lose man-power.

They sat up and the pace setting was taken up by Total Direct Energie who brought the gap to 2-18 as they hit the bottom of the last categorised climb of the day with 32km to go, the Alto de Abelaira, which was 7.6km at an average of 3.8 per cent.

Woods was the first rider to hit out for glory from the break but he was pulled back just before the top. Behind, Total Direct Energie lost all but one rider but other teams had come up to help.

Jumbo-Visma, Mitchelton-Scott and EF Pro Cycling came up with 20km to go as they started to descend to the finish.

But then the pace was completely called off in the peloton and the break started to pull out to over two and half minutes with 17km to go.

Štybar and Soler went away on the last few 100 metres of the descent before Wellens saw the danger and bridged across to them with 10km to go.

Périchon had been dropped back to the peloton with Van Baarle, Woods and Arensman struggling to catch up on the leaders with them stuck at 15 seconds into the last 4km.

With 1.7km to go Arensman did a huge turn and brought the gap right down with Woods pulling back the leading trio just before the flamme rouge as they started the uphill kick to the line.

Woods was pinned on the front until 500 metres to go where Wellens started to up the pace, he kicked with 200m to the line after blocking a move from Soler.

Woods came around the other riders to get into the slipstream of Wellens but the line of the road was against him and Wellens managed to hold him off thanks to the final corner with about 10m to the line.

Results

Vuelta a España 2020, stage 14: Lugo to Ourense (204.7km)

1. Tim Wellens (Bel) Lotto-Soudal, in 4-37-05

2. Michael Woods (Can) EF Pro Cycling

3. Zdenek Štybar (Cze) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

4. Dylan van Baarle (Ned) Ineos Grenadiers, all at same time

5. Marc Soler (Esp) Movistar Team, at 11 seconds

6. Thyman Arensman (Ned) Team Sunweb, at 13s

7. Pierre-Luc Perichon (Fra) Cofidis, at 3-11

8. Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 3-44

9. Gonzalo Serrano (Esp) Caja Rural

10. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, all at same time.

General classification after stage 14

1. Primož Roglič (Slo) Jumbo-Visma, in 53-57-05

2. Richard Carapaz (Ecu) Ineos Grenadiers, at 39 seconds

3. Hugh Carthy (GBr) EF Pro Cycling, at 47s

4. Dan Martin (Irl) Israel Start-Up Nation, at 1-42

5. Enric Mas (Esp) Movistar, at 3-23

6. Wout Poels (Ned) Bahrain-McLaren, at 6-15

7. Felix Grossschartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe, at 7-14

8. Alejandro Valverde (Esp) Movistar, at 8-39

9. Aleksandr Vlasov (Rus) Astana, at 8-48

10. David De La Cruz (Esp) UAE Team Emirates, at 9-23.

Caleb Ewan took the Scheldeprijs 2020 ahead of Pascal Ackermann (Bora-Hansgrohe) and Niccolò Bonifazio (Total Direct Energie) in a very hectic finale that saw several riders crash, and eventually saw Ackermann disqualified for a dangerous sprint. That decision meant Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels - Vital Concept) took the third place position.

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Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) sprinted to a very convincing victory after a very calm day on the laps around the town of Schoten. The sprint was packed with big names though and a big crash brought down some fighting for the top placings after a sharp movement by Ackermann took the wheel of a rider just behind him out.

This is Ewan's first race win since his successes at the Tour de France. Behind him, other Tour riders didn't perform as well as they would've liked, with points jersey winner, Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step), coming down in ninth.

How it happened

The race was based around a 173.3km course that was made up of a 17km circuit in Schoten as local lockdowns meant the race was not able to do its usual course heading into the Netherlands.

The day's break was made up of Mark Cavendish (Bahrain-McLaren), Lewis Askey (Groupama-FDJ), Dmitriy Gruzdev (Astana), Michael Schär (CCC Team), Travis McCabe (Israel Start-Up Nation), Chris Juul-Jensen (Mitchelton-Scott), Tom Wirtgen (Bingoal-Wallonie Bruxelles), and Piotr Havik (Riwal-Securitas).

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The route was very flat but it had the usual stressful course in Belgium with tight roads, road furniture, falling leaves and a very compact peloton with a packed field of potential winners.

The cameras largely fell on Cavendish as he was back on the bike despite his tearful interview where he said Ghent-Wevelgem may have been his last race.

But 'Cav' spent the day in the break but dropped back much earlier than the rest up front where he got plenty of congratulations from fans, motorbikes, and riders with him looking around asking for the camera to leave him alone.

Back in the peloton it was a group of teams working but UAE Team Emirates, Lotto-Soudal, Deceuninck - Quick-Step and Bora-Hansgrohe were doing most of the work for their main men.

The break was brought back with 19km to go apart from Havik who had kicked on, the Dutchman held on until 11km to go where Deceuninck - Quick-Step took full control of the race until 2km to go as Trek-Segafredo, Bora-Hansgrohe, Lotto-Soudal, and Alpecin-Fenix moved up to challenged the Belgian team.

Deceuninck - Quick-Step were then boxed out and it was Lotto-Soudal who lead the lead-out at the vital moment, allowing Ewan a clear sprint to the line, winning the race comfortably.

Ackermann was later disqualified for causing the crash moving Bryan Coquard (B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM) up onto the podium.

Results

Scheldeprijs 2020: Schoten to Schoten (173.3km)

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto-Soudal, in 3-34-38

2. Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie

3. Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

4. Tim Merlier (Bel) Alpecin-Fenix

5. Jasper Philipsen (Bel) UAE Team Emirates

6. Amaury Capiot (Bel) Sport Vlaanderen-Baloise

7. Arvid De Kleijn (Ned) Riwal Securitas

8. Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

9. Itamar Einhorn (Isr) Israel Start-Up Nation

10. Romain Cardis (Fra) Total Direct Energie, all at same time

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Thomas De Gendt says he will try and placate fans by winning another Tour de France stage at the 2020 edition, following on from his sensational solo victory at last year's race.

"I will try to win a stage this Tour, but it’s not easy to just win a stage, but I will try my best," the Belgian said after stage three.

The plan before the Grand Départ in Nice was to not pile all the pressure for escapee success on De Gendt, but having lost Tim Wellens before the race started as well as Philippe Gilbert and John Degenkolb after the first day, responsibility on De Gendt's shoulders.

"Those were three guys who were going to go in the breakaway as well, Tim and Phil especially. Those were two guys who were going to go in the breakaway so it wasn’t just on me to go in the breakaway.

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"But now the pressure is all on me again, so that’s unfortunate. I hope all three heal well and they can start their season again soon."

Before stage one, many had expected every kilometre to be raced hard, as riders make their case for contract renewals and teams seek to give their sponsors maximum return for their investment in this unexpected season. However, after a hectic opening day, the race has settled down, with the big teams marshalling the bunch as normal.

De Gendt says it was almost impossible for the break to stay away on stage three as Deceuninck - Quick-Step kept the escapees on a tight leash, looking to set things up for Sam Bennett, but maintained a pace that was slow enough to give the sprinters a comfortable ride to the final kilometre.

As for when he will try to run the gauntlet in search of victory, the 33-year-old says he will continue to recover from a back injury during the opening week, but has put the peloton and other breakaway aspirants on notice for week two.

"I still have a bit of a back problem, I hope it will be better tomorrow. If I feel okay I will try to be in the break," De Gendt explained. "But I think it’s better to aim for the second week and take it easy in the first week to make sure it heals."

Caleb Ewan fired from a long way back and weaved his way to a headwind sprint victory on stage three of the Tour de France 2020.

The Australian sprinter was out of position and chasing Sam Bennett (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) in the final 100 metres, but Ewan found an extra gear to kick from behind and weaved his way through the tightest gap to narrowly secure the victory.

Ewan's victory is the first for Lotto-Soudal in this Tour and will be a welcome result, as the Belgian WorldTour squad lost both John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert after the opening stage.

Bennett took a frustrating second place, with Giacomo Nizzolo (NTT Pro Cycling) rounding out the podium.

Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) finished safely in the bunch to hold onto his yellow jersey for another day.

How it happened

The third day of racing in the 2020 Tour de France route was slated as a stage for the sprinters, but it was far from the pan-flat parcours we’re used to from a Grand Tour sprint. 

Stage three was a long 198km day in the saddle from Nice to Sisteron, with four categorised climbs and more than 3,000 metres of climbing spread throughout the day.

The first two climbs came within rapid succession between the 45km to 64km marks, both third category with the Col du Pilon (8.4km at 5.1 per cent) first followed by the Col de la Faye (5.3km at 4.8 per cent). 

After a rolling middle section, the penultimate climb was the category three Col des Lèques (6.9km at 5.4 per cent) which marked the start of the long downhill 60km to the line.

But at 150km, the peloton still had to handle the category four Col de l’Orme, which is just 2.7km-long at five per cent. 

The final section featured a long gradual descent for 25km before the road very gently curved upwards in the final 10km, leading riders to a long, straight headwind drag for the line. 

With the sprint teams focused on the finish and the general classification teams trying to stay out of trouble, there was very little interest in a breakaway but three riders did make their escape from the peloton to set up a long day in the saddle.  

Mountains classification leader Benoît Cosnfroy (Ag2r La Mondiale), Anthony Perez (Cofidis) and Jérôme Cousin (Total Direct Energie) made up the all-French escape and the trio pulled out a three-minute advantage early on. 

Perez proved himself the strongest on the day’s climbs, securing points on the first two ascents of the day and moving into the lead in the mountains competition, but it was Cousin who grew impatient with the group and attacked solo with 128km still to race.

Cosnefroy and Perez opted to sit up and were caught by the peloton, while Cousins settled down to spend the day alone with his thoughts, extending his gap to around four minutes.  

There was very little action in the middle section of the race, aside from an ill-fated two-rider attack from Ag2r La Mondiale, with Cosnefroy and Nans Peters making a half-hearted attempt to get up the road from the peloton but giving up with 65km to race. 

Drama did come on the descent of the Col des Lèques however, when Perez suffered a puncture and then collided with his Cofidis team car. The virtual leader of the KoM classification was forced to abandon the race with a broken collarbone, without ever getting to wear the polka-dot jersey. 

With 20km left to race Deceuninck - Quick-Step were the controlling team in the peloton, with the entire squad lined up ahead of Sam Bennett, while Team Ineos and Jumbo-Visma sat at the front of the bunch to protect their leaders.

After more than 100km out front alone, Cousin was finally swept up by the bunch 16km from home and secured the award for most aggressive rider in the process. 

The bunch together, it was time for the sprint.

Quick-Step kept the pace into the final 5km when a roundabout caused some minor crashes in the bunch, with Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) touching down and losing the bunch and any chance at sprinting himself in the process. 

Riding into a headwind for the entire of the final, Sunweb who took up the race inside the final kilometre.

Just 200m from the line the race looked like it was swaying to Sunweb’s sprinter Cees Bol, but the headwind took its toll and the Dutchman faded. 

Bennett then fired his sprint by the right side barrier and went clear into the lead. 

Ewan finally opened his sprint from sixth place, sneaking from the centre of the road to the right hand side, very narrowly making it past Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe), then moving left to travel the long way around Bennett, pushing in front just 10m from the line. 

The victory is Ewan’s fourth in the Tour de France after his trio of wins last year.

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Alaphilippe continues to lead the race by just four seconds over Adam Yates (Mitchelton-Scott).

The race continues with the first mountain finish on stage four, over 160km from Sisteron to Orciéres-Merlette, which closes at the top of the 10km-long, six per cent average Orciéres climb. 

Results

Tour de France 2020, stage three: Nice to Sisteron (198km)

1. Caleb Ewan (Aus) Lotto-Soudal, 5-17-42

2. Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck - Quick-Step

3. Giacomo Nizzolo (Ita) NTT Pro Cycling

4. Hugo Hofstetter (Fra) Israel Start-Up Nation

5. Peter Sagan (Svk) Bora-Hansgrohe

6. Edward Theuns (Bel) Trek-Segafredo

7. Cees Bol (Ned) Sunweb

8. Matteo Trentin (Ita) CCC Team

9. Bryan Coquard (Fra) B&B Hotels-Vital Concept p/b KTM

10. Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie, all at same time

General classification after stage three

1. Julian Alaphilippe (Fra) Deceuninck-Quick-Step, in 13-59-17

2. Adam Yates (GBr) Mitchelton-Scott, at 4s

3. Marc Hirschi (Sui) Team Sunweb, at 7s

4. Tadej Pogačar (Slo) UAE Team Emirates

5. Davide Formolo (Ita) UAE Team Emirates

6. Egan Bernal (Col) Ineos Grenadiers

7. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) Jumbo-Visma

8. Sergio Higuita (Col) EF Pro Cycling

9. Guillaume Martin (Fra) Cofidis

10. Esteban Chaves (Col) Mitchelton-Scott, all at same time

Deceuninck - Quick-Step boss Patrick Lefevere and Lotto-Soudal's Jasper De Buyst have said spoken on their nervousness ahead of the return to racing next month.

While the WorldTour returns on August 1 with Strade Bianche, the Belgian Grote Prijs Vermac takes place on July 5, with Deceuninck - Quick-Step, Lotto-Soudal and Alpecin-Fenix all set to take the start line.

Lefevere has said he frets cycling is returning too soon, saying he worries about a situation similar to Novak Djokovic's tournament last week that was supposed to ease tennis out of lockdown but led to a number of positive coronavirus cases.

"My worst nightmare is that the races in July - like in tennis - lead to infections," Lefevere wrote in his Het Nieuwsblad column.

"Let it be a lesson for all cycling races that will start again in July. Coronavirus clusters are now shooting up like mushrooms, but I hope that enough attention is paid to prevention. Our riders are also young people who haven't seen each other for a long time but in the evening after dinner everyone went straight to their rooms," he said.

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"I have said it before, at races the attention to hygiene and the risk of contamination is a kind of second nature. In tennis - with the richest sponsors in the world - you may think that you are untouchable."

Deceuninck - Quick-Step have this week held a training camp for their entire squad, with Lefevere judging that keeping all riders and staff together being the more safe and sensible option, while other teams opt to split rosters into bubbles.

Lotto-Soudal are one of these teams, who have been in the Ardennes for a training camp, with Jasper De Buyst telling Sporza the peloton will be very nervous and eager at every race when the season resumes.

“As a top athlete, you are always afraid to get sick. But I notice that I now have a bit more fear of mishaps than usual," De Buyst said. "It will also be a bit strange in the peloton. But I hear that the football games were strange at the beginning and are already a bit more normal."

The Belgian says that coronavirus infections within the peloton may be inevitable and that for riders seriously concerned about contracting the virus, the best option may be to stay at home.

"In the race, you will think about the whole situation in the beginning. But in a peloton of 150 riders, it is impossible not to ride in each other's snot. If you think about that and you want to avoid it, you just have to do not start."

Lotto-Soudal have unveiled plans to separate their team into "clusters" as they begin preparations for the return to racing, which includes mitigating the risk of coronavirus transmission.

The Belgian squad will be divided into three, with the riders and support staff in each mini-team set to stick together for numerous races, reducing mixing within the team as a whole and therefore lowering the chance of a positive coronavirus test spreading throughout the entire roster.

Teams will look to stay in one country as much as possible, also keeping personnel and equipment in as few locations as is feasible.

The main way the team has been divided is between the squads Lotto-Soudal have planned for the three Grand Tours, the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España. As the Grand Tours are placed closely together within the 71 days of the revised calendar, sometimes overlapping, teams are likely to not use many riders in more than one three-week stage race.

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"Each group gets a different color and follows its own racing agenda," Lotto-Soudal team doctor Jens De Decker told Het Laatste Nieuws.

"The aim is to keep the development between the (so-called) clusters as limited as possible. The less rotation, the less chance of mutual contamination. We are even thinking of storing the necessary material for a short time in one place, in one country, by cluster. That would make it practically easier," said De Decker.

Alongside these measures, riders and support staff may also have to answer daily questionnaires in order to evaluate their condition, as well as receiving regular medical check-ups.

"This system makes it clear for us. Per group, we can also subject each member to serial tests, daily questionnaires, and/or medical check-ups," De Decker explained.

"We have to remain flexible. An important condition is that the rider in question is re-tested. Exactly how we will do that hasn't yet been thoroughly worked out."

The global coronavirus pandemic has sparked numerous debates about the future of professional cycling.

With the biggest race on the calendar the Tour de France postponed, women’s teams losing 100 per cent of their funding, and racing suspended for the foreseeable future, cycling’s entire business model has been called into question.

But Lotto-Soudal team manager John Lelangue seems to disagree with the sentiment that cycling’s business model is flawed.

The Belgian sports director turned manager, who has previously worked for BMC Racing and Phonak, has said that professional cycling “works perfectly” and doesn’t need changing.

In an interview with Belgian newspaper Le Soir, Lelangue said: “Cycling has survived for more than 50 years in the way it survives today. There are no fewer riders or fewer sponsors than in the 90s or 2000s. Why question a model that works perfectly?”

Belgian WorldTour team Lotto-Soudal have been forced to make 25 support staff unemployed while their riders, including Philippe Gilbert and Caleb Ewan, have had their salaries reduced as the team deals with the lack of racing due to coronavirus.

Lelangue said that sponsor visibility remains key to cycling’s financial structure and that teams don’t make profit, reinvesting all money back into the sport.

He added that in football a team owner also claims ownership of assets like stadiums and players, while cycling teams only own bikes and team cars, also saying that it makes no sense to compare cycling with football or tennis.”

Lelangue’s words are contrary to the thoughts of Team Ineos principal Sir Dave Brailsford, who recently said the coronavirus crisis should spark change in the way professional cycling is organised.

Brailsford said: “One of the challenges cycling has is that revenue is totally dependent on sponsors and different sponsors are in different businesses and some are more effective than others in the current climate.

“Modernising the business model going forward would be wise for everybody.”

He added that finding a new business model for cycling would be a “good lesson” for the future of the sport, featuring a more diversified season with bigger races spread out across the calendar, easing the pressure on one race, the Tour de France.

Brailsford said a new structure would those in cycling to plan for the medium to long term, rather than just the short term.

This week, women’s UCI team Bigla-Katusha has been forced to take drastic measures in an attempt to secure their future, after their sponsors withdrew 100 per cent of the squad’s funding.

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The team have now approached the UCI to gain access to the bank guarantee emergency fund and have launched a crowdfunding campaign in the hopes of continuing racing in 2020 and beyond.

A Lotto-Soudal rider has been punched in the face several times during a training ride.

22-year-old Belgian Harm Vanhoucke was out training in the Flandrian villaeg of Aalbeke when a man in a black van attacked him. Vanhoucke says he was punched several times in the face after asking the man to keep his distance.

The WorldTour rider is now appealing for people who may know his attacker's identity to come forward.

Writing on his Facebook page, Vanhoucke said: "A message I would rather not post. Around midday, I was riding in Aalbeke [and was forced off the road] by a black van. He, a man in his forties/fifties and heavily built, got aggressive and I asked him to keep his distance. After saying this he punched me in the face. This is anything but normal in these times of coronavirus. If anyone knows this person please send me a message."

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Pro cyclists in Europe have faced uncertainty over whether they will be able to continue training while racing is postponed, with countries such as France, Spain and Italy imposing bans on cycling. Professionals have been able to continue riding outside but must carry paperwork with them.

Gorka Izagirre spoke out against the cycling ban and €3000 fines that were being handed out to riders caught outside during the lockdown in Spain, asking authorities to clarify whether pros were allowed to train outside, as doing so constituted part of their job.

Vanhoucke's compatriot Oliver Naesen has had a better time training back in Belgium, completing a 365km-long ride last week.

Alongside 22-year-old companion Maxim Pirard, the pair set off at 5.30am for their 12-hour ride, averaging 30.4km/h on the mostly flat terrain, while Naesen averaged 182 watts and hit a maximum power of 861.

Lotto-Soudal have banned alcohol for staff and riders during races and training camps.

The team already enforced prohibition for riders but has now been extended to staff, but drinks will still be allowed during special occasions likes birthdays and victories.

Team CEO John Lelangue says the ban has nothing to due with an alcohol-related incident on the eve of the Vuelta a España last season, which resulted in performance manager Kevin De Weert being suspended.

Lelangue told Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad: “It has absolutely nothing to do with that incident. We already had a code of conduct. I have now adjusted it a bit for safety reasons.”

Lelangue said he has made rules stricter because team staff may need to drive a car at any time and to preserve the team’s image, as staff and riders wear clothes incorporating the team sponsors.

Lotto-Soudal suspended their sports director and performance manager De Weert for the duration of the Vuelta a España following an incident involving alcohol on the eve of the race.

The team later reinstated De Weert, but he was removed from his DS duties and will focus on his job as a performance manager.

Lelangue added: “This measure also applies in many companies. It is part of the way of living together. The majority of staff also thought this was a good idea. We remain a friendly team, but without alcohol.

“Drinking coffee together is also nice.”

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Anyone breaking the rules will not be dismissed, but they will be given a negative mark against their name, which could impact any contract extensions.

The team will allow exceptions to the rule, such as after a rider wins a race, a birthday or a reception, where a glass of champagne will be allowed.

Not only is it the season to be merry, it’s also the season cycling teams reveal the kit we’ll spend hours watching on our screens or at the roadside during the coming season. With more black and blocky colours, this year’s offering from Lotto-Soudal is set to be among the most striking we’ll see during 2020.

With Vermac designing the new kit the Belgian team have stayed to the faithful to their compatriot company who have added far more black than previous designs.

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The team don’t just have a men’s squad, but also boast an under-23 development squad and a women’s team. Indeed the women’s jersey differs slightly from the men’s, the main sponsors' names swapping places.

In total four British riders will wear the new jerseys in 2020. Abby-Mae Parkinson and Danny Christmas will be representing the women’s squad, while both Jon Dibben and Matt Holmes have signed for the men’s WorldTour outfit.

The team have been on the up in recent years and the new kit will also adorn some big international names, with Australian sprinter, Caleb Ewan chief among them.

In his first year at the Belgian squad, Ewan bagged 10 of the team’s 23 victories. Three at July’s Tour de France were the standout results, with the final stage on the Champs Elysées the most obvious success.

While team stalwarts like Tim Wellens and Thomas de Gendt are set to continue bringing success in the new kit, the team have recruited well.

This year’s Paris-Roubaix winner Philippe Gilbert is returning to the squad he spent two successful seasons with nearly ten years ago. And if their classics squad wasn’t strong enough already, John Degenkolb, another Paris-Roubaix winner, also makes the move.

Lotto-Soudal team-mates Thomas De Gendt and Tim Wellens are off on their 700km gravel adventure through Spain.

The pair are half-way through the six-day ride that began in Teruel, covering the Montañas Vacías of the 'Spanish Lapland' in the country's east.

Belgians Wellens and De Gendt have been eating by the fire, walking snowy passes and covering the gravel dirt roads.

"It's training, but it doesn't feel like training," they told Sporza.

The ride, which was delayed,  will form part of their pre-season training for 2020. Other riders, including Greg Van Avermaet (CCC Team) have already started their winter training after a month or six-week break.

They are followed by Belgian television Sporza as their Ridley Bikes are loaded down with bags and gear for travelling the distance and encountering the elements.

"It's not easy to climb with a 25-kilo bike. But it's all worth it when you see the views," De Gendt said on Instagram with the hashtag for their event, #TheFinalBreakaway2

Last year, they ended their season in Il Lombardia and covered 1000km riding from Como, Italy, to Belgium.

The Spanish route travels counter-clockwise, each day around six hours of riding. The forest roads run though the Montes Universales, Sierra de Javalambre and Sierra de Gúdar.

"Our stage of today. Six hours on the bike. 15 minutes of snow walking. Barstop in Albarracin," wrote De Gendt. "Arrived just before dark in our apartement where the nice lady left us some food to cook. More off-road tomorrow."

The snow gave way to mud and rock sectors for the duo on Sunday, day two.

"Cold start but it got warmer quickly. Stopped for food in Zafrilla and from that point it was all muddy or rocky sectors for 30km's. We experienced what 'empty mountains' really mean."

A website that promotes the area called it "one of the most depopulated areas in Europe." It is twice the size of Belgium, but with only 7.34 people per square-kilometre. It explained that you can go 100km without seeing anyone.

The two are not the only ones trying something new. Australian Lotto rider Adam Hanson competed in an Ironman triathlon for the first time in Florida. He finished in just over nine hours.

John Degenkolb has insisted that his departure from Trek-Segafredo had nothing to do with his omission from their 2019 Tour de France squad.

The German had ridden six straight French Grand Tours since his debut in 2013 until he was left out this year, as the team took home four wins courtesy of Thomas De Gendt and Caleb Ewan.

After three years at Trek, Degenkolb has signed with Lotto-Soudal for the 2020 season. What awaits him is not yet known, however, and he says he isn't thinking about whether he will ride the Tour next year as the Belgian outfit start to make rough plans for the season ahead.

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"It's not like you're looking for another team if you're not taken to the Tour, which was definitely not the reason why I left the team," Degenkolb told Radsport News.

"We had the first team meeting and talked roughly about the direction it will take - especially for the Classics - we want to take the team to a higher level and get more results than in the past."

Although Lotto-Soudal are losing Tiesj Benoot to Sunweb, the signing of Degenkolb and 2019 Paris-Roubaix winner Philippe Gilbert will give them a great chance of taking home a number of big wins in the early season.

The duo will undoubtedly be a force to be reckoned with in the Classics, having won seven Monuments between them. Degenkolb says when they both knew they were heading to Lotto-Soudal they had time in races to start building a relationship.

"It was already clear during the Vuelta that we would both switch to Lotto-Soudal and we already had one or two opportunities to talk, we get along well," Degenkolb said.

"There will be a lot of overlaps in the spring and we will be traveling together - even in winter, to create a certain microstructure in the team."

Degenkolb's schedule has not yet been set, although it is likely he will target at least one of the spring Classics, with Tim Wellens and Caleb Ewan further options alongside Gilbert, for the Belgian squad to turn to.

Lotto-Soudal rider Gerben Thijssen was “able to have a small conversation with his family” after a crash at the Ghent Six Day left him in intensive care.

The 21-year-old Belgian fell heavily during the opening night of the historic track event, which resulted in the racing behind cut short.

Thijssen was rushed to hospital on Tuesday night (November 12) after suffering three small brain bleeds, three broken ribs and a fractured collarbone, which left him in intensive care.

His condition was reported as stable and Lotto-Soudal confirmed his condition had improved slightly on Wednesday.

The team said: “Fortunately there is some slight optimism. Less than 18 hours after his terrible crash, Gerben was able to have a small conversation with his family.

“Keep fighting Gerben.”

The 2019 Six Day Ghent, held on the iconic Kuipke velodrome, has been marred by serious crashes.

On Tuesday, Mark Cavendish went down at 70km/h during the one lap time trial, hitting his head and skipping the rest of the race, before Thijssen’s crash at around 11.15pm resulted in the event being cut short.

Then on Wednesday night, para-cyclists Kris Bosmans and Diederick Schelfhout crashed into the stands during the team sprint.

Bosmans suffered a complex fracture to his right leg and will need surgery, Schelfhout fractured a vertebrae and will be treated with stitches, while a spectator also suffered minor injuries and received care on site.

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Visually impaired rider Larissa Klaassen and her pilot Imke Brommer also fell earlier in the evening, crashing during the 500m time trial and both suffering slight concussion, bruises and scrapes.

Belgian disability sport charity Parantee-Psylos said: “Around 10.25 pm, Kris Bosmans experienced material failure during the team sprint, a discipline in which three Belgian riders competed against three Britons. A pedal crank broke and Kris could not keep his balance. Diederick Schelfhout could not avoid him and both riders fell over the stand in the bend

“We wish everyone a speedy recovery.”

Adam Blythe has announced his retirement from the professional peloton, aged 30.

The former British champion has already raced for the last time as he officially brings his 12-year pro career to an end on December 31.

Blythe has seen out has last season with Belgian WorldTour outfit Lotto-Soudal, but has also been a familiar face on TV as a pundit during the Grand Tours throughout 2019.

He now plans to remain involved in the sport while taking more time for his family.

In an Instagram post announcing his retirement, Blythe said: "It's time for me to hang up my wheels as a professional bike racer.

"I have seen the sport change a lot over the past decade, with the sacrifices getting greater and greater for a pro to keep competing at the top level. With this in mind, the time is now right for me to step away from racing, spend more time with my beautiful Mrs and three beautiful children, while focusing on what else I can do in the sport."

Blythe launched his career in 2008 when he joined the South African Continental squad Konica Minolta-Bizhib, but quickly made the jump to WorldTour level when he switched to Lotto the following year.

It was with Lotto he scored his first pro wins in 2010, winning two stages and the overall of the Circuit Franco-Belge stage race in Belgium.

After three seasons with the Belgian team, Blythe went on to race for BMC Racing before heading back to the British domestic racing scene with NFTO in 2014.

That marked the beginning of the upheaval in Blythe's career as he regularly switched teams, first to Orica-GreenEdge in 2015, then to Tinkoff in 2016 before he moved to Irish team Aqua Blue Sport in 2017.

Aqua Blue folded in dramatic fashion late in 2018, leaving an entire roster of talent, including Blythe without contracts.

He landed on his feet however, making the step up to WorldTour level once again for 2019 when he re-joined Lotto-Soudal for his final season.

Blythe scored nine victories during his career, most memorably the RideLondon Classic in 2014 and the British National Championships in 2016 when he beat Mark Cavendish in the sprint.

Another of his most commendable performances was the 2016 World Championships in Qatar, where he was a pivotal support rider for Mark Cavendish in the crosswinds and helped the Manx sprinter to a silver medal behind Peter Sagan.

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Reflecting on his career, Blythe added: "The bike has been everything to me from a young age. From racing around the country with the my mates who I could still race with now, to riding Grand Tours and winning my home Classic race, RideLondon. I have grown up in the sport and it has been some journey to get me to where I am today. I have a lot of stories, and an awful lot of good memories.

"I love cycling and can’t imagine not being a part of the sport in some way, so I look forward to exploring whatever new opportunities come my way to keep me working in the sport and with the people I love."

Lotto-Soudal performance manager Kevin De Weert has been reinstated to his position following a suspension by the team.

The Belgian was initially suspended for the duration of the Vuelta a España following an alcohol-related incident on the eve of the race.

According to Belgian news outlet Het Nieuwblad, De Weert has been reinstated early following a dinner meeting with the team CEO John Lelangue.

Het Nieuwsblad also says the De Weert will travel to Yorkshire on Monday to prepare with Victor Campenaerts and under-23 rider Brent Van Moer for the Road World Championships. De Weert also travelled with Campenaerts to Mexico earlier this year for his successful Hour Record attempt.

De Weert was reportedly trying to find new jobs during his suspension, but will now stay in his role with Lotto-Soudal. Lelangue says the 37-year-old will not lead the team as a sports director following the incident however, and will focus purely on his job as performance manager.

"Kevin stays with us," Lelangue told Het Nieuwsblad.

“Kevin has already achieved results with his approach in the past and will continue to do so with us in the future.

"When his suspension became known, I said that I would keep in touch with him. We have spoken a number of times in recent weeks. Kevin has assured me that such incidents will not happen again in the future.

"It is clear that De Weert will no longer work as a team leader, only as a performance manager," Lelangue added.

"It is also in that role that he has achieved results for us and we are convinced that he will give us even more results."

Belgian De Weert was a pro from 2003 until 2015 when he retired.

During his career he rode for Rabobank and Quick-Step before joining LottoNL-Jumbo for his final season as a professional. He took some impressive results including 12th overall at the 2011 Tour de France, but was unable to take a professional win.

Lotto-Soudal have struggled to have a major impact on the Vuelta a España so far, unable to win a stage. The race continues on Thursday with stage 18 and includes in Madrid on Sunday.

Jon Dibben will be making his return to the WorldTour with Lotto-Soudal next season.

Dibben has spend a season at continental level with Madison-Genesis but will step up again as his current team is set to close at the end of the year.

The former Team Sky rider has been signed for one year to bolster the lead-out for Caleb Ewan and the incoming John Degenkolb.

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Dibben, 25, said: “The role I will have in the team and the races that will be on my schedule seem perfectly suited to what I want to be doing or what I think I can do well at in racing.

“In the past, I have been involved in the sprints and I have already worked in lead-outs. With the way Caleb Ewan has shown himself this year and with John Degenkolb arriving next year, it will emphasise the sprint aspect in the team even more.

“The team really suits my character as a rider and I’m really looking forward to it.”

Dibben started his career with Team Wiggins in 2015, before joining Team Sky in 2017.

The Southampton-born rider left Sky at the end of last season, joining Madison-Genesis in May  having spent the winter riding Six Day events.

But the British Continental team will be closing at the end of the 2019 season, leaving plenty of talent on the hunt for contracts.

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Dibben added: “I am more the type of rider for the faster kind of racing and to form the sharp end of the bunch sprint. But I also want to keep progressing in the time trial area, and I hope to attain some nice individual time trial results. There are races that include sprints all year, so my main role will be to work for the sprinters if they are present.”

Dibben has a professional win to his name, a time trial from the 2017 Tour of California.

He added: “Otherwise, I’ll be looking to race well myself and have a go in the breakaway. I want to keep progressing, which means riding some of the bigger races and being involved in the racing a bit more.”

Lotto-Soudal has suspended performance manager Kevin De Weert following an “incident” on the eve of the Vuelta a España 2019.

De Weert, a former professional rider, has been suspended with immediate effect and for the remainder of the race.

Lotto-Soudal said the decision was taken after De Weert was given an earlier warning, but the team has not revealed the nature of the incident or further details around why the 37-year-old was suspended.

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A statement from the Belgian WorldTour team, released on Wednesday (August 28), said: “Following an incident at the eve of La Vuelta and after an earlier warning, the management of the Lotto-Soudal cycling team has decided to temporarily suspend its performance manager, Kevin De Weert, with immediate effect, for the remainder of the duration of the race.”

The statement added: “The team management will not make any further comments until a conversation between general manager John Lelangue and Kevin De Weert takes place, after his return in Belgium.”

Belgian De Weert was a pro from 2003 until 2015 when he retired.

During his career he rode for Rabobank and Quick-Step before joining LottoNL-Jumbo for his final season, taking some impressive results including 12th overall at the 2011 Tour de France, but never scoring a professional win.

De Weert worked as Belgian national coach after his retirement, joining Lotto-Soudal as performance manager at the end of last season.

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Lotto-Soudal is pursuing stage glory at the Vuelta a España 2019, with breakaway specialist Thomas De Gendt, riding alongside the likes of 2018 Vuelta stage winner Jelle Wallays, Tosh Van Der Sander, Sander Armée and Carl Fredrik Hagen.

The team has been active in the race, with Armée making the break on stage two, De Gendt attempting an attack on stage three and Wallays joining the escape on stage four, but has yet to score a win.

Bjorg Lambrecht crashed after hitting a road reflector on stage three of the Tour of Poland, according to a prosecutor in Poland.

The 22-year-old Belgian rider died after he crashed 48km into the stage and hit a culvert, suffering serious internal injuries.

Authorities in Rybnik, where Lambrecht fell, have launched an investigation into the cause of the crash, according to Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

The deputy public prosecutor Malwina Pawela-Szendzielorz said: “Two riders who rode behind Lambrecht saw how he hit the reflector and lost control of his bike. He turned first to the right, then to the left, hit the road and hit the culvert.

“It is sad that reflectors, intended to improve road safety, are the cause of such a tragedy.”

The reflective road stud in Poland, used to separate lanes in darkness and bad weather, is 10 centimetres by 10 centimetres and sits 1.8 centimetres above the surface of the road.

Lotto-Soudal rider Lambrecht was resuscitated after the crash and was rushed to hospital, but the liver laceration he suffered caused an internal haemorrhage, which led to a cardiac arrest. He died during surgery.

The cycling world has been in shock since the death of the promising talent.

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His funeral was held in his home village of Knesselare, where members of the public and his team-mates all attended to pay tribute.

Lambrecht was riding his second season at WorldTour level and had been one of the great Belgian hopes.

He finished second in the under-23 World Championships last year and went on to ride to 12th in the Critérium du Dauphiné, taking the youth classification in the process.

Lambrecht also finished fifth in Brabantse Pijl earlier this year, following up with sixth in Amstel Gold Race and fourth in Flèche Wallone.

Tiesj Benoot said the death of a team-mate has a serious impact on your life, after the tragic loss of  Bjorg Lambrecht.

Lotto-Soudal rider Benoot won the opening stage of the Tour of Denmark in Silkeborg on Wednesday (August 21), his first day of racing since friend and compatriot Lambrecht died earlier this month.

The Belgian was one of the pallbearers at the funeral held on August 13 after Lambrecht, just 22 years old, died during the Tour of Poland stage three.

"Certainly, it's been difficult in the weeks after the death of Bjorg. That's why I dedicate my victory to him. And I will do that for the rest of my career I think. Burying a team-mate has a serious impact on your life."

Lambrecht hit a cement drain pipe when crashing off to the side of the road 48km into the third stage of the Tour of Poland. The race organiser neutralised the following day's stage.

The death impacted the team, Benoot specifically as they grew close over the years in the Belgian team Lotto-Soudal.

"We talked a lot about Bjorg in recent weeks. Of course his death has a huge impact on the team," Benoot continued.

"I also lived fairly close to him, the closest of all colleagues and we had a close relationship, more than I had with some other colleagues.

"Bjorg was more than a team-mate, he was also a friend. It struck me hard that he died during a race, during his work – something we all do for money, and something we love at the same time."

Benoot was fit and ready to race the Binckbank Tour but skipped it in order to be part of Lambrecht's funeral in Knesselare, midway between Bruges and Ghent.

"I felt extra motivated to show myself today [in Denmark] . I wanted to win for him and I'm proud that I succeeded," Benoot added.

"You never know how to respond to such a thing and how your body will react even after such an event. After the funeral I had some very tough days, but today I apparently had some extra strength to finish it."

John Degenkolb will be joining Lotto-Soudal next season as they continue to add talent to their Classics line-up.

The German sprinter will be making the switch from Trek-Segafredo on a two-year deal, saying he wants to target his own glories while also supporting their star Caleb Ewan.

Degenkolb, who won the Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix double in 2015, was one of six riders hit by a car while training in Calpe, Spain, in 2016 and fought his way back to an emotional stage victory at the Tour de France last season.

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The 30-year-old said: “The talks with Lotto-Soudal have revealed that there are many similarities between the team’s goals and mine. It makes sense that a Belgian team with a long history in cycling wants to excel during the Classics. That will be the aim for the first part of the season.

"In addition, I’m not slow at the finish, especially after a tough race. Of course, I also look forward to working with Caleb Ewan, who will undoubtedly be our number-one sprinter for his specific goals. But with my experience, I can provide added value for him and for Lotto-Soudal. The team is often active on two or three fronts, which increases the chance to obtain nice results.”

Degenkolb started his WorldTour career in 2011 with HTC-High Road, before joining Argos-Shimano where he had most success.

He has wins in all three Grand Tours, including a spectacular victory on the Roubaix cobbles of the Tour last year.

But his biggest success came in 2015, when he took his first Monument victory from a bunch sprint at Milan-San Remo, then followed up with a second two weeks later on the iconic Roubaix velodrome, winning from a six-rider group.

Degenkolb added: “I am firmly convinced that I have reached the age to earn good results on the highest level and to keep performing during the most important races. I know the races, the courses and I have the physical capacities."

Lotto-Soudal have also signed five-time Monument winner Philippe Gilbert from their Belgian rivals Deceuninck – Quick-Step, adding an experienced and consistent Classics star to their roster.

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Team boss Marc Sergeant said: “With John Degenkolb and Philippe Gilbert, we managed to add two great riders to our team. John is fast after a hard race, which makes a big difference if you go to the line with, for example twenty riders.

“I hope that we will get to see the best of Degenkolb the coming years and I am convinced that he is capable of doing so.

“As a team, you need certain riders as a signboard, which usually has a good impact on the other guys. John has gathered a lot of experience and a big credibility inside the peloton. He indicated that he wants to recognise and try to take opportunities, we will for sure be able to define some nice objectives, he is flexible in terms of his race schedule and he definitely wants to commit himself to Caleb Ewan.”

Degenkolb said his targets for the remaining months with Trek-Segafredo will be stages of the Vuelta a España and then the World Championships, which will close out his three-year stint with the team.

Philippe Gilbert will be leaving Deceuninck-Quick-Step for a three-year deal with Belgian rivals Lotto-Soudal.

The Classics star said he wanted to leave his current squad as they would only offer him a one-year contract, which set him on the search for a new deal.

Lotto-Soudal bosses showed their confidence in the five-time Monument winner, signing Gilbert on a three-year deal at the age of 37.

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The Belgian pro said: “I still wanted to race, without any doubt. When I learned that I could only stay with my current team for one year, it was clear to me that I wanted to change. The clearest interest and project was Lotto-Soudal. Of course, I know the team, a lot of riders and staff are no strangers to me. I know the spirit and I will be part of another Belgian project.”

Gilbert will be leaving Deceuninck – Quick-Step  at the end of the season after a three year stint that saw him shine in the cobbled Classics, including a memorable solo victory in the 2017 Tour of Flanders and glory in Paris-Roubaix this season.

He has claimed 75 wins in his 17-year career, also counting two editions of Il Lombardia, four Amstel Gold Races, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and the World Championships among his successes.

Gilbert added: “The past few years, I watched the team from outside and I think they maybe lacked a real leader in those races. I want to try to lift the team to a higher level, by performing myself but also by making other riders better."

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Since his professional career started with FDJ in 2003, Gilbert spent three years with Lotto in the past, before a five-year spell with BMC Racing.

Lotto sports manager Marc Sergeant said: “He has so much experience, he has won all Monuments except for one [Milan-San Remo], and he can pass on his experience to the current team, which is hungry for new success. His age is a relative term, you are as old or fit as you feel. He still has that big urge to prove himself and he is go-getter, that is his secret."

The team’s general manager John Lelangue said: “There are several reasons why Philippe Gilbert is an important transfer for us. Firstly, he is a complete leader, with his palmarès, with the evolution he made throughout his career and with his personality. That is why we really wanted him with us, to highlight the DNA of the team more clearly in the one-day races. Of all the active riders, he has the biggest one-day races palmarès; he knows what it takes to win.”