Next season, there will be fifteen Lotto Soudal Ladies. Ten riders left the team, among them the Italian champion Elena CECCHINI and Carlee TAYLOR. Dany Schoonbaert can still rely on Isabelle Beckers, Jessie DAAMS, Lieselot DECROIX, Chantal Hoffmann, Anouk Rijff, Anisha Vekemans and Susanna ZORZI. Also Fenna Vanhoutte stays with the team, she will make the transition to the elite in 2016. Julie Roelandts, who recently won the Flemish Championship cyclocross for 13-year-old aspirants, will be the only youth cyclist in the team next year.
Six new riders join the Lotto Soudal Ladies; including the Belgians Sofie DE VUYST (28) and Lotte Kopecky (20), the French rider Elise DELZENNE (26), the South African An-Li Kachelhoffer (28), the German cyclist Claudia Lichtenberg (30) and her current teammate at Liv-Plantur the Dutch Willeke KNOL (24).
Lotto Soudal Ladies 2016:
Isabelle Beckers, Jessie DAAMS, Sofie DE VUYST, Lieselot DECROIX, Elise DELZENNE, Chantal Hoffmann, An-Li Kachelhoffer, Willeke KNOL, Lotte Kopecky, Claudia Lichtenberg, Anouk Rijff, Julie Roelandts, Fenna Vanhoutte, Anisha Vekemans and Susanna ZORZI.
The U23 team of Lotto Soudal will consist of 23 riders next year, of which twelve new names. Five riders who leave turn professional in 2016: Laurens De Plus (Etixx – QuickStep), Hayden McCormick (One Pro Cycling), Ruben Pols, Dries Van Gestel and Kenneth Van Rooy (all Topsport Vlaanderen – Baloise). This gives a total of 24 Lotto Soudal U23 riders who became professional in the last five years.
Emiel Planckaert gets his brother Edward on his side next season, who’s starting his third year as a U23 rider. The other new arrivals are all first-year U23. Among them five Belgians who were selected for the World Championships in Richmond in the U19 category: Stan Dewulf, Robbe Ghijs, Bjorg Lambrecht, Thomas Vereecken and Aaron Verwilst.
Lotto Soudal U23 team 2016:
Alexandre Braybrooke (new), Jonas Castrique (new), Steff Cras, Kevin Deltombe, Stan Dewulf (new), Robbe Ghijs (new), Michael Goolaerts, Steff Hermans, Mikkel Frølich Honoré (new), Kevin Inkelaar (new), Ward Jaspers (new), Bjorg Lambrecht (new), Senne Leysen, Milan Menten, Edward Planckaert (new), Emiel Planckaert, James Callum Shaw, Mathias Van Gompel, Harm Vanhoucke (new), Joachim Vanreyten, Thomas Vereecken (new), Aaron Verwilst (new) and Enzo Wouters.
