Lotto Soudal DS Nikolas Maes: "We changed our way of working at Lotto Soudal"

Lotto Soudal is heading for a crucial season where relegation is a possibility and must be prevented at all costs. Despite being stated as not a concern, Nikolas Maes said in an interview with Sporza.

"The team invested a lot in research and specialists. The return of Victor Campenaerts inspired to innovate. Ask Brent Van Moer and Florian Vermeersch. They'll confirm they learned a lot from him already," Maes said. Victor Campenaerts has been training with the duo of young talents the Lotto Soudal has developed. They were set to go on an altitude camp in Rwanda but that was cancelled due to Covid impacts, they have instead travelled to an hotel in Spain owned by former pro Alexandr Kolobnev where they have gone in a regime of hypoxic room usage.

"Some riders began to use the innovative training methods of Campenaerts. Victor caused a fresh wind and an upgrade of professionalism within the team. The determination of him and Wellens increases the level of staff and riders."

Regarding the possibility of relegation, Maes admitted that it was discusssed within the team, despite initial reports from team CEO John Lelangue that the team would not change it's aproach: "Riders and staff are aware of the relegation danger. They know this year needs to be better than last seasons. That's why we worked in a very specific way towards the 2022 season. We changed our way of working at Lotto Soudal. From now on the riders will head with a specific plan towards every race. That used to be different in the past."

"Some riders have a coach who isn't connected to the team. The communication between those coaches and the team is way better now. Besides that, we also have a psychologist now. We received positive feedback from the riders on that," Maes concludes.