Lotto Dstny invests released budget Caleb Ewan in ‘performance’: “We were behind”

Niels Bastiaens •
Monday January 8, 2024 at 12:01

Interview Sporting manager Kurt Van de Wouwer was given the thankless task of managing Lotto Dstny in 2023 in the first year after relegation from the WorldTour, but miraculously the Belgian team had its best season in years. The breakthrough of golden boy Arnaud De Lie had something to do with it, and the team now wants to build on that. Van de Wouwer tells this in conversation with, among others CyclingFlits.

The Lotto team did not undergo any major changes last winter. Of course there was the much-discussed departure of Caleb Ewan, who also saw almost his entire train with Michael Schwarzmann, Rüdiger Selig and Harry Sweeny leave the team. Classics specialist Frederik Frison was probably the biggest loss. On the other hand, there is now the arrival of Lionel Taminiaux, Jenno Berckmoes, Logan Currie and climbers Jonas Gregaard and Henri Vandenabeele.

“It was clear to us that there were still many riders under contract,” sporting manager Kurt Van de Wouwer defends his transfer policy. “The fact that few things were possible to change actually made it a fairly quiet winter.”

Leave Ewan
On paper you would say that the team is weakened. “But if Ewan had won ten races last year, he would not have left now, because he still had a contract. We ended up in the situation where the relationship deteriorated because he did not deliver what we expected. If Ewan is really good, then he is a top sprinter, we all know that. That is no longer the case, but in terms of breadth the other boys are a year more mature. I wouldn’t say we’re weakened.”

Then other boys will have to step up, but who? “What Caleb brought last year is easy to fill. Taminiaux can do that. You have Victor Campenaerts, Andreas Kron, Lennert Van Eetvelt and Maxim van Gils, who all have their place next to De Lie. Florian Vermeersch could also just start winning. They are not sprinters, which means that it may make a difference in terms of the number of victories. But is an extra sprinter necessary for us? How many sprinters are there who really win a lot of races per season? Even just three or four, right.”

With Ewan’s multi-million contract, a serious chunk disappeared from Lotto Dstny’s wage bill. How did the team invest that? “To a large extent in ‘performance’. A trainer has been added, a dietician. High altitude training courses are fully paid for and expanded by the team, which all costs money. But I think it was a must for us to take that step. I think we were lagging behind in this regard two years ago, but we have made serious progress since last year. You still have three or four top teams with larger budgets, but we are just below that.”

Calendar choices
Last year, Lotto Dstny had to complete its first of three seasons as a ProTeam, but was assured of wildcards for all WorldTour races. “That went beyond expectations. If you had told us before the season that we would be ninth in the UCI rankings, we would have signed up for that immediately. If you look at who is still behind us and how much of a lead we already have, we are in a pretty good position for a promotion place. If we can continue that trend this year, we can be reasonably safe to be promoted again after the season.”

So the team thought: hold fast that which is good. The strategic calendar choices from last season were largely retained. This means: no Tour Down Under, no Giro, Tour of the Basque Country, Tirreno-Adriatico and – new – no Tour of Poland. “We now have less stress to race for points, but we do think that skipping those races can be to our advantage. We can then schedule altitude internships at those times. After the busy classics period, many riders will also need some rest, after which they prepare for part two of the season. The Giro was inconvenient in that respect, and Poland was also bad on the calendar this year.”

The Tour of the Basque Country is the most notable absence, because the team’s brand new cycling sponsor – Orbéa – has its home base in that region. “The question did not come from them. If they had asked, we would of course have been at the start. But honestly? I’m not angry about the fact that we don’t have to drive there. They will get their publicity out of it one way or another. But I don’t know anything about the commercial side.”

UCI-ranking
What is certain is that the team wants to build on the successes of 2023. “If we look purely numerically, it will be difficult to finish ninth again in the UCI ranking. BORA-hansgrohe was behind us, and if you see what kind of transfers they have made… If we reach the top 10 again, we can speak of a very strong year. But if we finish between ten and fourteen, we will also be satisfied,” concludes Van de Wouwer.