Lotto Belisol and Maxime Monfort have closed a two years agreement. From the 1st of January 2014 the 30-year-old rider will join the ranks of Lotto Belisol. Monfort is a good time trialist and GC rider. This season he became fourth in the Tour Méditerranéen and 14th in the Tour de France. For the first time in eight years Monfort, who is now part of RadioShack, will ride in a Belgian team again.
Manager Marc Sergeant: “Maxime is a rider who perfectly fits in the team. He’s a Belgian with a lot of experience, gained in different foreign teams and he’s keen on riding again for a Belgian squad. He’s a rider for stage races who can render us a service with his climbing capacities and good time trial in both big and small stage races. Next to Jurgen Van den Broeck and because of the development of Bart De Clercq, which I love to see happening, we set a step forward as a team in that area and we can appear at the start each time with top ten ambitions, where before that wasn’t evident. Monfort also brings much experience from foreign teams and definitely wants to share this with our other riders.”
Maxime Monfort: “The very first contacts with Lotto Belisol immediately felt right. The fact that it’s a Belgian team has also played a role in my decision. It’s special for me after I have been riding in foreign teams for several years. On the sportive level I get great opportunities here. The complete programme has yet to be discussed, but I’ll be a protected rider in short stage races and Grand Tours like Giro or Vuelta. In the Tour I’m prepared to work for Jurgen Van den Broeck who has already proven to have chances for a podium place. Apart from that I also want to pass my experience, acquired by being a pro for ten years now, to the young riders in the team.”
“I already know many people of the staff and of course of the riders, among other from the Belgian national team. With some riders, like André Greipel, Adam Hansen and Marcel Sieberg, I rode together at HTC and Columbia. The list is long. Of course I also know Tony Gallopin very well, with whom I’m riding in the same team now, and who’ll also make the move. It’s a new team, with new challenges, but the change will definitely go smoothly.”
Data:
Name: Maxime Monfort
Date of birth: 14/01/1983
Place of birth: Bastogne
Length: 180 cm
Weight: 67 kg
Record:
2004-2005: Landbouwkrediet – Colnago
2006-2008: Cofidis
2009: Team Columbia – HTC
2010: Team HTC – Columbia
2011: Leopard – Trek
2012: RadioShack – Nissan
2013: RadiosShack – Leopard
2004: Stage 3 Tour de Luxembourg, overall winner Tour de Luxembourg
2009: Belgian Championship time trial
2010: Stage 4 Bayern Rundfarth (ITT), overall winner Bayern Rundfarth
2011: Stage 1 Vuelta a España (TTT)