"I don't like winning that much. I really enjoy racing" - Lennert Van Eetvelt offers Lotto rare Giro d'Italia lift as illness ravages squad

Lotto-Intermarche’s Giro d’Italia has been reshaped in brutal fashion before the race has even reached its first major mountain test. Arnaud De Lie and Milan Menten are both out, illness has torn through the team’s plans, and the squad now finds itself looking increasingly towards Lennert Van Eetvelt as its clearest remaining source of optimism.

Van Eetvelt has given them plenty of reason to do so. After following Jonas Vingegaard and Giulio Pellizzari on the Lyaskovets Monastery Pass on stage 2, he backed that up with seventh place from the reduced group in Cosenza on stage 4. After five stages, the Belgian sits firmly inside the top 10 overall, just 10 seconds behind Maglia Rosa Giulio Ciccone.

Yet Van Eetvelt is not treating his position as a source of pressure. Speaking to Sporza before stage 5, he made clear that his current approach is built around freedom rather than expectation.

"I don't think about it too much. I try to enjoy being in good form. Often, you only realise how good it was in hindsight. Right now, I try to enjoy it. Dropping is just boring; riding along is cool,” Van Eetvelt said.

The contrast inside Lotto-Intermarche could hardly be sharper. De Lie arrived at the Giro weakened after illness and struggled whenever the road rose in Bulgaria. He eventually abandoned on stage 4, unable to recover from the stomach problems that had followed the Famenne Ardenne Classic.

Menten also withdrew before stage 5 after reaching Cosenza more than 18 minutes down. He told Het Nieuwsblad that continuing was “simply impossible”, explaining that as soon as he made an effort, he “completely” blew up.

That has left Lotto-Intermarche without two important sprint options, but Van Eetvelt has kept the team in the race in a very different way. His ride on stage 2 was one of the first real signs that he could live with the sharpest accelerations in this Giro, even if Lotto have repeatedly insisted that the general classification is not his declared target.

Van Eetvelt’s own language fits that stance. He is racing well, but he is not presenting himself as a rider suddenly burdened by the team’s wider misfortune. "I don't really like winning that much. I really enjoy racing, and I race to win, but winning itself is less important to me. But I don't like losing either, so then winning is the only option,” he explained. “I try to get the best out of it and have fun racing."

For Lotto-Intermarche, that mindset may be exactly what is needed. The team’s Giro has already taken a heavy hit, but Van Eetvelt has emerged from the opening phase with form, confidence and a strong GC position.

His stage 2 move with Vingegaard and Pellizzari showed he can respond when the race lifts in intensity. His stage 4 finish confirmed that he can remain involved on awkward, selective days where sprinters and heavier riders are put under pressure. That gives Lotto a path forward, even if it is not the one they expected before the race began.

De Lie’s Giro was supposed to offer him a chance to reset after a difficult start to the season. Menten was part of the team’s fast-finishing options. Both have now been forced out by illness. Van Eetvelt, meanwhile, is still there, still racing freely, and still close enough on the overall standings to give Lotto something real to follow.

The Giro is only five stages old, and the decisive mountains are still ahead. For now, though, Lotto-Intermarche’s race has become less about what has already gone wrong and more about what Van Eetvelt might still be able to make of it.