Partly due to sponsor Marc Coucke, a virulent competition between Davitamon and the floorbuilders of Quickstep took place last year. The men of Lefevere won that fight by a landslide; with Pozzato and Boonen Quickstep won two classics while Davitamon-Lotto had a very pale spring. The only light during this dark period was Gert Steegmans, but of all people he is the guy that has left the squad for their biggest rivals, a new chapter in the turbulent history of these two teams.


Fact is Predictor-Lotto (the teams new name since last winter) can’t top the superiority of the competition in the classic stages. They are doing better at stage races, but that seems to be because Lefevere is less interested in that, partly due to lack of success in his teams history. Besides that the team has one of the best sprinters of the world, Robbie McEwen, in their midst, who is fortunately able to beat Boonen a lot of the time.


But don’t worry, Coucke is up for another try. For this purpose he signed Hoste and Vandenbroeck (Discovery Channel) to ride at home once again, boosting the overall quality for the team of manager Sergeant. With eternal talent Sentjens (Rabobank), very active Italians Zanini and Cioni (Liquigas) and the talented Lloyd (Sth. Australia), Van Avermaet and Cornu (Bodysol), Predictor-Lotto will have a lot more in store this year.


The only rider who will be truly missed is Steegmans, who followed the experienced Van Petegem to Quickstep. That the team also said goodbye to Van Bon (Rabobank), Mattan (DFL-Cyclingnews), Vogels (Toyota United) and Jan Kuyckx can hardly be seen as a bad thing for the team.


With Hoste, Steels, Sentjens, Zanini, Van Summeren and Vansevenant, Sergeant has put together a great team for the spring classics and has other options for the sprints (McEwen), hilly classics (Evans, Leukemans, Aerts, Brandt and Cioni) and the Grand Tours (Evans, Cioni, Horner and Van Huffel). As long as Coucke forgets about the painly transfer of Steegmans and stops pushing these riders in the battle against Quickstep, this squad should be able to experience a great season.


New:
Leif Hoste, Jurgen Vandenbroeck (Discovery Channel), Roy Sentjens (Rabobank), Dario Cioni, Stefano Zanini (Liquigas), Matthew Lloyd (South Australia-AIS), Dominique Cornu, Greg van Avermaet (Bodysol), Geert Steurs (Pictoflex), Dries Devenyns (neo)


Departed:
Gert Steegmans, Peter van Petegem (Quickstep), Leon van Bon (Rabobank), Henk Vogels (Toyota United), Nico Mattan (DFL-Cyclingnews), Jan Kuyckx (Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner)