Lotto Dstny's new star has a clear goal for the upcoming spring: "My dream remains Paris-Roubaix"
Cycling
Lotto Dstny can only be praised by the work they've done over the past years developing top talents, all Belgian. Whilst Maxim van Gils' departure came as a tough hit, the team managed to secure under-23 star Jarno Widar recently for several years. The team is led by Arnaud de Lie and Lennert van Eetvelt but now also Alec Segaert, who hopes to have a breakthrough this upcoming spring.
Having turned pro in 2023, he made an impression by finishing second to Remco Evenepoel and Wout van Aert respectively at the road race and time-trial national championships in Belgium. He went on to win the under-23 European Championships later in the year.
In 2024 he took another step with the ProTeam, winning the GP Criquielion and the time-trial at the Renewi Tour. He led the World Tour race until the final day and finished second in GC, putting in a stunning performance on the Geraardsbergen circuit. This ride gave him grand hopes of taking strong results in the spring classics. Segaert also won the European ITT under-23 championships once again later on.
“It was undoubtedly the best moment of my year. I didn’t expect my first victory in a WorldTour race," Segaert said in an interview with RTBF regarding the Renewi Tour. "For the first time I was able to compete at this level and I could have even won the general classification. It gave me a lot of confidence for next spring."
Segaert has shown real talent away from the time-trial bike as well there, and backed that up with a third place at the under-23 Worlds in Zurich where he was in the fight for the win, and was the first rider to cross the line after Niklas Behrens and Martin Svreck. Segaert knows he can have a leading position these upcoming months in the team if he plays his cards right.
"After the departure of Victor Campenaerts and Florian Vermeersch, I will have a different role and will be more preserved for the finale. My dream remains Paris-Roubaix," he admits. "Since I made my debut there as a junior, where I finished second in my first appearance. But everything must go according to plan".
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- well, del grosso is 21 right now. when mathieu was a year younger than that, he was already winning elite level world championships, not U23. i think del grosso will be a very good pro for years, but if he was really going to be the next van der poel someday, he’d already have to be at that level right NOW. van der poel was showing signs of true greatness when he was 15-16. THAT’S what generational talent looks like.OCexile25-12-2024
- Yeah.... gear 😅.mikolajjj24-12-2024
- It shouldn’t be about expectations in the first place should it? Besides, if you look at everyone’s calculations as a whole they don’t add up in the first place. There’ll be 2-3 riders with a 50% chance, a dozen with 10 or 20% and dozens more with a 5% so we’re expecting at least 2 if not 3 winners. Remind me again who won before her? Says it all about using data to decide on participation.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- Ok, happy I’m not too interested in this team coz’ the account of what happened is really hard to follow.Mistermaumau24-12-2024
- The UCI is worse than USA CyclingVeganpotter24-12-2024
- It's not like they wanted her to not win😅 She had an outstanding Olympics. But there's a reason why she wasn't expected to win the road race and that's ok. Things like this happen and it's great...better than seeing expected winners win.Veganpotter24-12-2024
- Bruyneel ? The man with a lifetime ban from cycling...why do you keep giving him and his doper mate, Armstrong, a platform?DJ24-12-2024
- yeah, agree. on the subject of being a “complete rider,” i do think that’s getting more interesting. mathieu seems to have decided he wants to get much better at climbing the the high mountain passes. he appears to be looking for new challenges, which should be interesting to watch. in most cases you’d dismiss a goal like that at age 30, but it’s mvdp. he’s never going to climb with the real climbers, but if he can improve enough it could open up stage wins when the parcours isnt just purely toothy and punchy.OCexile24-12-2024
- I'm loving the level of competition and the compositions of teams in 2025. Sure Pogi had an historic 2024. Slate is clean in 2025. And lots of great athletes--MvdP, Vingo, Primoz, Remco, Marc Hircshi, Pidcock, Carlos Rodriquez--and strong teams want to win. I think Pogi will have another great season in 2025. But I think we will talk about others having great seasons too. Who? I don't know. I'll watch the classics and tours and will root for spirited competition.pidginbil24-12-2024
- Sorry but 50€ a day for an international hotel was already a joke 6 years ago. Combined with the fact a lot of them are international chains, this is just capitalism as the West has taught. I think the business term used now is « dynamic pricing « and it happens everywhere. Maybe some will now reflect on how 3rd world delegations are discriminated by prices when they have always had to travel to meetings, hence distorting results and silverware. We will also still have to see how things work out visa-wise, how many participants will be refused as in Glasgow and on what basis? As regards Pog, the coach had better put in place a strategy to avoid his boycotting for personal political reasons, that’s at least as big a problem as logistics.Mistermaumau24-12-2024