Three seasons ago, LottoNL-Jumbo couldn't buy a win. Three years on and the team has developed into one of the most competitive sprint machines in the peloton, boasting two high-profile sprinters, and two competitive lead-out trains. It's been one of the most impressive yet underrated transformations in recent years.
Back in 2015, the Dutch team struggled all the way until May before Moreno Hofland finally won a stage at the Tour of Yorkshire, and the squad eventually limped home with a meagre six wins in the entire season. It was clear that something had to change.
In 2016 and 2017, the team began a rebuilding process, first signing the talented youngster Dylan Groenewegen, and then rearranging some of the building blocks that were already present within the team. Hofland was allowed to leave for Lotto Soudal at the end of 2016, and the final piece in the jigsaw came ahead of the 2018 season, when the management signed Danny van Poppel from Team Sky. Now Lotto-NL possess not just two fast finishers but two of the most formidable sprint trains in the peloton.
ADVERTISEMENT
Van Poppel began the season with a win in Valencia, before Groenewegen won in Dubai and then repeated the trick on Wednesday by eclipsing Arnaud Demare and the FDJ train at the Volta ao Algarve. It's amazing what two world-class sprinters can do for morale, not to mention your win ratio, but new signings only tell part of the story behind Lotto's success.
Timo Roosen has been with the team since 2015, joining the year before Groenewegen moved into the WorldTour. It has taken time but the pair are now one of the best sprint double acts on the circuit.
"Of course, Danny won the first race for the team this year and when you see that you want to win too. The motivation gets higher and you want do it as well as the other train did. You keep motivating each other like that, and I think it's good to have both trains next to each other," Roosen, who led Groenewegen to victory at the Volta ao Algarve, told Cyclingnews.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/no-lottery-lottonl-jumbos-sprint-train-has-been-carefully-constructed
No comments:
Post a Comment