On Sunday, Lotto Soudal will be at the start of the 68th Critérium du Dauphiné, which lasts until Sunday, June 12.

Sports director Herman Frison said:

“We are going to the Dauphiné with lots of fighting spirit, also for Stig [Broeckx]. We are planning on racing aggressively the entire week. We won’t put pressure on any of the riders what the GC is concerned. We will tackle the stages day by day.

"The race starts with an uphill prologue. Louis Vervaeke did well in the prologue of the Tour de Romandie. He set the eighth time and was the fastest at the intermediate time check at the top of a climb. Louis could perform well again.”

“There are two opportunities for the sprinters, Jens Debusschere is our man for those stages. The other stages are tougher and then we can rely on Bart De Clercq, Thomas De Gendt, Tony Gallopin and again Louis Vervaeke. If we do have someone high on GC after five days we can always change our mindset and defend that position, but as I said that isn’t a must.”

Part of the riders in the Lotto Soudal team for the Dauphiné went to the Sierra Nevada for an altitude training camp. Thomas De Gendt is one of them.

“It’s important for me to do an altitude training camp so I can do long training rides in the mountains," he said. "The centre were we stayed at (Centro de Alto Rendimiento, ed.) is made for professional sportsmen and –women. They only serve healthy food, even the desserts don’t contain much sugar. You can’t get temped there. It is remote, but to kill the time on rest days I had my Playstation. Also films were a welcome distraction, just like the Giro; it was even more fun to watch our teammates do so well.

"Most of the time I go on a training camp all by myself, but now there were three teammates with me, a mechanic and a soigneur. At home or during an individual training camp I clean my bike myself, but now the mechanic Jeanick Verstraete made sure my bike was ready in the morning. Vincent Monserez, our soigneur, bought fresh fruit and prepared our shakes for after training. It’s beneficial for the recovery that you don’t have to take care of it all after a long endurance training.”

De Gendt is now ready for the Dauphiné.

“I already notice that the training camp did me well," he said. "I didn’t specifically focus on the Dauphiné, though. In this race I want to make a step forward in my preparation for the Tour, just like I intended with the training camp. You can’t simulate race circumstances while training, you need a race to get in top condition. If the team asks me to join a breakaway I will try to do that and then I always aim for the victory.

"If the shorter stages affect the chances of the breakaway riders? I think it gives them more chance to survive. If the stage is shorter, riders get tired less quickly. Although the course and the riders themselves are the most important. I prefer short stages anyway, then more happens in the peloton as well.”

Also Tony Gallopin went to the Sierra Nevada for a training camp and also for him this Dauphiné leads to the Tour.

“The Dauphiné will be the first race for me after the training camp. This race isn’t a goal itself, it’s mainly the next step in my Tour preparation. That doesn’t mean that I won’t have a go when there is an opportunity, but I’ll see day by day. The Tour de France is my main goal and all I do is with that race in mind," he said.

Line-up Lotto Soudal: 

Kris Boeckmans, Bart De Clercq, Thomas De Gendt, Jens Debusschere, Gert Dockx, Tony Gallopin, Tomasz Marczynski and Louis Vervaeke.