New Lotto Soudal sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer will look to echo Alpecin-Deceuninck’s smart approach over the next three years as his team seeks to return to the WorldTour following their relegation at the end of this season.
With WorldTour licences lasting for three years, Lotto Soudal cannot return to the top-flight before the 2026 campaign, but Van de Wouwer has acknowledged that the option to forgo certain races could play to their advantage as they seek to amass the necessary UCI points.
“We have the luxury, from my point of view, that we are no longer obliged to ride all the races of the WorldTour. We can put together our own programme and look carefully at which races we can drop,” Van de Wouwer told Sporza. "In this way we can map out a balanced programme, in which we do not overload our riders, but still allow them to commit to certain goals. That should be the focus."
The team, which rebrands as Lotto Dstny in January, will have an automatic wildcard invitation to all WorldTour events next season after finishing among the two best non-WorldTour teams in the UCI standings for 2022.
"On the other hand, every year [outside the WorldTour] brings pressure and stress to get wildcards for important races,” Van de Wouwer said. “Ultimately, the race to regain a place in the WorldTour in 2026 starts now. If you work for this team, then that should automatically be the ambition.”
Van de Wouwer has a long history with Lotto, having spent nine years on the team as a rider, placing 11th overall at the 1999 Tour de France. More recently, he has managed Lotto’s under-23 and women’s teams, and his work with the men’s squad will see him link up once again with riders he helped to develop.
"I can say that the development team has been a success story, said Van de Wouwer. “In that sense, it is not illogical that the National Lottery came to me.”
Van de Wouwer will not be the last major appointment at Lotto this winter. The team is still looking to appoint a new CEO following the departure of John Lelangue, who leaves to become general manager of the Tour de Pologne. Former Lotto rider Andrei Tchmil put his name into the hat for the role in an interview with Het Laatste Nieuws at the weekend.
“The intention is to have the final decision in sporting matters, together with the sports directors,” Van der Wouwer said of his own role. “We have already discussed selections for races.”
The 2023 Lotto Dstny roster will feature veterans such as Thomas De Gendt and Victor Campenaerts, as well as young talents like Arnaud De Lie and Florian Vermeersch. Caleb Ewan also remains in situ, with Jacopo Guarnieri an addition to his lead-out train.
Ewan has won five stages at the Tour de France and four at the Giro d’Italia since joining Lotto Soudal in 2019, as well as winning Scheldeprijs and the Brussels Cycling Classic. He endured a difficult 2022 campaign, crashing on the opening day of the Giro and struggling through the Tour. He collected seven victories, but only one – a stage of Tirreno-Adriatico – came at WorldTour level.
“He was below expectations, but if he had won one or two stages in a Grand Tour, you get a very different picture of Lotto. It’s also relative,” said Van de Wouwer.
“The misery for Ewan started in 2021 when he broke his collarbone in the Tour. He ended up in a negative spiral there. This year he fell again in the first bunch sprint of the Giro.”
