Lotto Belisol has held its official team presentation and unveiled the roster that is going to improve on a disappointing 2013 season. With 9 riders joining the team, the Belgians are looking for a classics win and more success in the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana in 2014.

Lotto Belisol has always been based on the philosophy of supporting young Belgian riders in their attempt to be world stars, with the youngsters riding alongside a few foreign stars that have achieved most of the results for the team. However, that idea has made the team vulnerable when bad luck has hit the team's biggest names.

That was very evident in 2013 when two of the team's four designated captains failed to reach their objectives. While Andre Greipel enjoyed his usual success in the sprints, winning a stage in the Tour de France, the Brussels Cycling Classics and a number of WorldTour races, and Jurgen Roelandts got his breakthrough in the cobbled classics by finishing 3rd in the Tour of Flanders, Jelle Vanendert and Jurgen Van Den Broeck had no success.

Vanendert had targeted the Ardennes classics but health issues forced him out of the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and he never reached his highest level for the hilly one-day races. He was later infected by a parasite that left him with no strength and saw him miss the Tour de France.

Van Den Broeck appeared to be riding at his usual high level in the Tour de France but crashed hard in the sprint on stage 5 and had to abandon the race with a bad knee injury. He missed the rest of the season as a consequence.

In 2013 Lotto Belisol won 28 races but they were mostly taken by their sprinters Andre Greipel, Jens Debusschere and Kenny Dehaes. With Van Den Broeck and Vanendert hampered by injuries and illness, the team failed to make an impact on the GCs in the stage races.

The result didn't live up to expectations and in an attempt to have a broader base, the team has hired 9 new riders for the coming season while 10 riders will leave. All the new faces were present at the team presentation which was held yesterday in the football stadium of AA Ghent.

"Things need to be better next year," manager Marc Sergeant said. "In our perception, and that of our sponsors and fans, last year was not good compared to 2012 when we had three stage wins with André Greipel and a fourth place in the overall of the Tour de France. A win in a major Classic is a must in 2014." 

To reach the latter goal, the team has signed Tony Gallopin who won the Clasica San Sebastian in 2013 while riding for Radioshack. The Frenchman is one of the select few who can both handle the Ardennes and the cobbled classics and he will form a strong duo with Roelandts in the latter before joining forces with Vanendert and Van Den Broeck in the former.

"My dream is to win a Classic," Sergeant said. "But we saw that relying on one rider like Jürgen Roelandts who had flat tyres at crucial moments, or in the Tour de France on Jurgen van den Broeck makes us vulnerable. That's why we are happy with signing Tony Gallopin who already proved he can win a Classic in San Sebastian."

In the past, the team has placed a lot of emphasis on the Tour de France but has mostly lined up rosters of younger riders in the Giro d'Italia and the Vuelta a Espana. The team will have a bigger focus on the two minor grand tours in 2014 and have signed a GC rider to lead the team in those races.

"We always went into the Giro to win a stage and amazingly enough we also did that in the past five years," Sergeant said. "We are very happy with Maxime Monfort who we have been courting for a few years now. When I said to him that there would be no Tour for him in 2014 he had to think but he now aims for a top ten in both the Giro and Vuelta."

While Monfort will lead the team in the Giro and the Vuelta, Van Den Broeck will be back in the Tour after his bad crash. While Greipel will target the sprint stages, the Belgian will try to reach his goal of finishing on the podium.

He hopes to have more luck after crashing out of the race in both 2011 and 2013.

"I am pretty sick of it now," he said. "This year's crash changed me mentally and physically but now I feel good. The rehabilitation went completely according to plan, without any delays, so I am ready for next year. Tirreno Adriatico is the first big goal, then the Classics in the Ardennes and the Tour of course."

In addition to Monfort and Gallopin, the team has signed Sander Armée (Topsport Vlaanderen), Kris Boeckmans and Pim Ligthart (Vacansoleil-DCM), Vegard Breen (Joker-Merida), Stig Broeckx (Lotto-Belisol U23), Boris Vallée (Color Code-Biowanze) and Sean de Bie (Leopard-Trek).