ProTeam Lotto–Intermarché ready to take on the white roads of Strade Bianche

Lotto–Intermarché heads to Tuscany with ambition, ready to embrace the challenge of Strade Bianche and to play an active role in the race. With its demanding gravel sectors often shaping the race far from the finish, positioning and teamwork will be crucial throughout the day. The team aims to stay attentive from the early phases and anticipate the key accelerations that typically define Strade Bianche long before the final kilometres. “Even though they removed two gravel sectors, it’s still going to be a hard one. For a second I forgot how tough this race is going to be,” Van Eetvelt adds.

The team lines up with a versatile and motivated squad featuring Lennert Van Eetvelt, Jenno Berckmoes, Reuben Thompson, Simone Gualdi, Liam Slock, Mathieu Kockelmann and Matthew Fox — a balanced group prepared for the demanding terrain of the Tuscan sterrati. “We’ve come to Siena with Lennert Van Eetvelt and Jenno Berckmoes as our riders capable of aiming for a strong result,” Sports Director Mario Aerts explains. “Lennert has already achieved several good results in this race, and with Jenno’s cyclocross background we truly believe we can approach the race with ambition.”

The team also returns to Tuscany with strong memories from last year’s edition, when Van Eetvelt delivered an impressive performance to finish ninth, proving he can compete with some of the strongest riders in the world. “It’s always a race I look forward to,” Van Eetvelt says. “I’ve already managed to perform well here, but we all know it’s an extremely tough race. With Strade Bianche you never really know how it will unfold — you can’t force things. Unfortunately Jarno couldn’t start due to illness, but I’m happy that with Jenno I have another really strong teammate, and I hope we can go far together.”

Photo: @cyclingmedia_agency