"It didn't turn out at all what we expected" - Lelangue on Lotto Soudal's complicated Tour de France

Lotto Soudal was the second least earning team at the Tour de France despite their high ambitions to chase wins with Caleb Ewan and a lineup of classics riders, and team manager John Lelangue has not hid the disappointment from within the team due to that.

"It didn't turn out at all what we expected. Unfortunately, we were unlucky with that crash for Caleb. Apparently that was a bit too much," Lelangue told Sporza, referring to the Australian's crash on stage five alongside Primoz Roglic. "Nevertheless, we have always believed in it, have sacrificed a few riders in the mountains. That also costs energy".

With Caleb Ewan's best result being an eighth place on the final day, it was a race to forget. Tim Wellens and the likes of Florian Vermeersch also didn't manage to succeed, whilst the new leadout did not seem to work. "A Caleb at 100% could certainly have passed today. He was in the right place in all sprints 500 meters from the finish. Also today. He was perfectly positioned to win like in 2019, but if you don't have that 2nd kick..." he mentioned after the sprint at Champs-Élysées.

"It is also a risk to put everything on one man," Lelangue admitted. "We have to see what lessons we can draw from this, for example for the sprint train. In that regard, it was also a setback that we missed Jasper De Buyst here."

He was asked about the difference in preparation in relation to Jumbo-Visma, to which he responded that "of course they have a much larger budget than we do. But we are also involved with altitude training, material, video analyses, nutrition... No, we can't complain about that."

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Uma publicação compartilhada por Caleb Ewan (@calebewan)