LOTTO DSTNY

  The first Lotto team, managed by Walter Godefroot and his deputy Patrick Lefevere, saw the light of day in 1985 with the Lotto–Soudal team's long-time manager, Marc Sergeant, among its fifteen riders. Both in 1986 and in 1987, when Sergeant took the first Tour de France stage for the Belgian national lottery, the team had to adopt the moniker "Joker" in July to avoid confusion with France's Loto. After a two-summer break (1988 and 1989), Jean-Luc Vandenbroucke's revamped Lotto team made a strong comeback to the Grande Boucle in which Johan Museeuw nabbed prestigious wins at Mont-Saint-Michel and on the Champs-Élysées. The "Lion of Flanders" had roared for the first time. In the 2000s, the team's national rivalry with Patrick Lefevere's Quick Step led Lotto to tap Australian cycling with mixed success. While Robbie McEwen won no fewer than three green jerseys, Lotto twice missed the opportunity to bring the yellow jersey all the way to Paris, with Cadel Evans finishing second in 2007 and 2008, only to win in 2011… after joining BMC. Finally, Jurgen Van den Broeck made the headlines in Belgium with a top 5 finish in 2010. After crashing in 2011, in 2012 he posted the best performance by a Belgian since Claudy Criquiélion finished fifth in 1986. Belgian champion Philippe Gilbert's win in the Mont des Alouettes stage in 2011 was no mean feat either. In 2014, Frenchman Tony Gallopin made a splash for Lotto–Belisol by wearing the yellow jersey on 14 July and claiming the stage to Oyonnax. Lotto–Soudal's best performance in 2018 was André Greipel's third place in Sarzeau. The team finished the race with just three riders, a meltdown of such magnitude that management decided to replace the Gorilla of Rostock with Caleb Ewan, an Aussie who exceeded all expectations. After becoming the youngest rider to win a stage in each Grand Tour since Nino Defilippis in 1956 with a triumph in Toulouse, he ended his first Grande Boucle as the most prolific sprinter in the race after grabbing another two wins in Nîmes and Paris. The 2019 Tour de France was a massive success for Lotto–Soudal, and not just because it started in Belgium. It also lit up the fireworks with its dogged attackers Thomas de Gendt, author of an epic performance that saw him raise his arms in Saint-Étienne, and Tim Wellens, who wore the polka-dot jersey for longer than Julian Alaphilippe stayed in yellow (15 days). In 2020, Caleb Ewan confirmed his status as one of the fastest sprinters in the world with two stage wins, but the following season, he fractured his collarbone in a crash in Pontivy on the third day of racing. Fellow Aussie Harry Sweeny posted the team's best result with third place in Nîmes. The grizzled Belgian squad only managed to finish on the podium of a stage once in 2022, with fourth place in Lausanne, courtesy of the Dane Andreas Kron, as its top performance after a fall in the cobblestone stage hamstrung Caleb Ewan. In 2023, Lotto–Dstny came up one place short of victory on three separate occasions: Caleb Ewan in Nogaro, Maxim Van Gils on the Grand Colombier and Pascal Eenkhorn in Bourg-en-Bresse. The Walloon Arnaud De Lie is also set to make his big debut in the Tour.