Lotto Soudal announce stage-hunting team for Tour de France - Ewan, Wellens and Kron lead the way

Lotto Soudal are on the rise these past few months, and they have just announced their Tour de France lineup in which they are expecting to capture multiple wins on different terrains.

“With these 8 we can play our part on almost every terrain in this Tour de France," John Lelangue said. “With Caleb Ewan we have one of the fastest riders of the peloton. He is our biggest chance on a stage win and therefore we have made sure he is well surrounded with Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Frederik Frison, Florian Vermeersch and Brent Van Moer." Missing his traditional leadout with the likes of Kluge, Schwarzmann and De Buyst, the Belgian team will be looking for a different formula, having recently-signed Reinardt Janse van Rensburg as the man to guide him in the finales.

The rest will be built out of rouleurs. Frison is likely to be on controlling duty on the flat stages, whilst Florian Vermeersch and Brent van Moer will themselves also be viable options for breakaways on several days, aswell as the cobbled stage into Arenberg which may see the yellow jersey changing hands.

"Furthermore, Philippe Gilbert, Andreas Kron and Tim Wellens have proven the last weeks to be in a very good shape. They will definitely be active in the more difficult stages and be present in breakaways," he concluded. Kron has just finished the Tour de Suisse where he showed great form, whilst Wellens emerged second from a hotly-contested Baloise Belgium Tour. Gilbert himself has won a stage and the overall classification at 4 Jours du Dunkerque this past month, and is having high hopes of fighting for a stage win in the Grand Boucle.

Lotto Soudal for Tour de France: Caleb Ewan, Frederik Frison, Philippe Gilbert, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Andreas Kron, Brent van Moer, Florian Vermeersch and Tim Wellens.