Lotto Soudal "didn't say anything about the relegation battle until last winter", rider confirms

Lotto Soudal's management problems have become evident throughout the past few days, and even more now as one of it's riders Brent van Moer confirmed that only this year did the Belgian team start discussing the UCI Points Ranking, which will see the team relegate.

In an interview with Radio Stelvio, the Belgian rider said that "we didn't say anything about the relegation battle until last winter. This winter it was suddenly: 'Men, we have a problem.'" Van Moer is referring to the UCI Rankings in which from the years 2020 to 2022, the Top18 teams with the most points - gathered across all pro events - would obtain a license for the 2023-2025 seasons.

Despite having a better season in 2022, Lotto Soudal and Israel - Premier Tech will be relegated at the end of the season into Pro Team level. "If we had raced for the past two years as we are doing this year, we would never have run into problems," van Moer said, whilst Alpecin-Deceuninck and Arkéa Samsic will be promoted to World Tour level.

This statement comes after a public spat by team CEO John Lelangue and former team manager Marc Sergeant, who blame each other for "creating holes" within the team, and van Moer's claims support the theory that the team management was not prepared and did not take the rankings into consideration before this year - which has eventually led to the team's World Tour downfall.