“The GC is not an ambition... That could have a paralysing effect” - Lotto keep pressure off Lennert Van Eetvelt despite matching Vingegaard in early Giro sparring

Lennert Van Eetvelt has already shown he can live with the biggest name at the Giro d’Italia, but Lotto-Intermarche are refusing to turn one explosive move into a general classification mission.

Van Eetvelt was one of only two riders, along with Giulio Pellizzari, able to follow Jonas Vingegaard when the Team Visma | Lease a Bike leader attacked late on Stage 2.

For a brief spell, the trio looked as if they might fight for both the stage win and the Maglia Rosa, only to be caught again inside the final kilometre.

After three stages, Van Eetvelt sits tenth overall, just ten seconds behind race leader Guillermo Thomas Silva. With Adam Yates, Santiago Buitrago and Jay Vine already out of the race, and several other expected contenders missing from the Giro before it even began, the temptation to reframe Van Eetvelt’s race would be obvious. Lotto, however, are not ready to go there.

“We remain with our position: the GC is not an ambition for us,” sporting manager Kurt Van de Wouwer told Het Nieuwsblad, making clear that stage success remains the priority for both the team and Van Eetvelt.

That stance comes despite the Belgian’s strong opening to the race and the changing shape of the general classification. The mass crash on Stage 2 has already removed major names from contention, while Van Eetvelt’s ability to follow Vingegaard offered Lotto a glimpse of what might be possible if the race continues to open up.

Van de Wouwer admitted the situation could create a rare opportunity, but insisted the team do not want to burden Van Eetvelt with a target that was never part of the original plan. “But we don’t want to put pressure on him. That could have a paralysing effect,” he said.

That approach also reflects Van Eetvelt’s wider Giro objective. Stage victory remains the central aim, and his ride on Stage 2 suggested he may already be closer to the level needed for that than he was during the Ardennes Classics, where he was still searching for rhythm after a long spell away from racing.

There was frustration inside Lotto-Intermarche that Van Eetvelt came so close to a potentially huge Giro moment in Veliko Tarnovo. Had the Vingegaard, Pellizzari and Van Eetvelt trio stayed clear, the Belgian would have had a serious chance of taking both the stage and the Maglia Rosa.

The key tactical question was whether Van Eetvelt should have contributed more once the three had gone clear. Van de Wouwer, though, defended his rider’s choice to gamble rather than spend everything working for two riders with bigger GC obligations. “It was not up to Lennert to pull the chestnuts out of the fire. He had to gamble. Fate was not on our side,” he said.

That leaves Lotto in an interesting position as the Giro heads into Italy. Van Eetvelt has already proved he can follow one of the sharpest accelerations of the race so far, but his team are determined to keep his role loose, opportunistic and free from the weight of a GC label.

For now, that may be the smartest way to ride the race. Van Eetvelt has shown enough to be watched closely, but Lotto are making sure expectation does not become the thing that slows him down.