Maxime Monfort will not ride the Tour in 2014. Instead, the Walloon rider will be Lotto-Belisol's leader for Giro and Vuelta, as the rider tells nieuwsblad.be.

Monfort always rode the Tour de France for the last seven years, and obtained his best GC ranking this year, 14th overall. However, with the team change from Radioshack-Leopard to Lotto, the Walloon rider has to accept the change. "When I heard about the plans of the team, I'm a little shocked." says Monfort, "But the next day I understand. I can got top-10 results in both the Giro and the Vuelta."

Monfort, once a solid domestique for the Schleck brothers, helped Andy Schleck regained yellow jersey in Galibier, 2011 TDF. He also got a 6th overall result in that year's Vuelta. With Schleck brothers injured, out of form or suspended, Monfort took leadership responsibility himself, albeit not much result can be said. As he joined Lotto, he has to accept the second fiddle status under Van den Broeck too.