Lotto Soudal expands its medical department for 2016. Three doctors, three physiotherapists, a mental coach and a nurse are part of the medical structure of Lotto Soudal. New is the introduction of the Cycling Think Tank led by chief doctor Servaas Bingé, sports director Mario Aerts and physiotherapist Tim Aerts. Cycling gets more and more scientific; because of that, Lotto Soudal expands its medical structure.

“The medical staff of Lotto Soudal is also present during races and training camps," Bingé said. "A total of eight persons takes care of the riders; they get optimal care and medical assistance. The medical team includes three doctors: Servaas Bingé, Steven Bex and Maarten Meirhaeghe (new); three physiotherapists: Tim Aerts, Geert Beirnaert and Bart Govaerts (both new); a mental coach: Nathan Kahan and a nurse: Jochen Fordeyn (new). Behind this operational structure, we have the ‘Cycling Think Tank’ (CTT, LTS); a breeding ground of knowledge and scientific innovation that supports the medical staff of Lotto Soudal. Supported by several scientists (Professor Romain Meeuwsen VUB, Asker Jeukendrup (international nutritionist), and doctors (Olivier Ghekiere (Radiologist Jessa Ziekenhuis Hasselt), Toon Claes (AZ Sint Elisabeth Herentals) and doctor Coeman (Az Sint-Vincentius Deinze)), the Cycling Think Tank wants to help the team to empower its  scientific way of thinking.”

According to the CTT, current cycling needs to be supported in five important terrains: Body – Mind – Training – Nutrition – Materials, Tactics & Technique. By investing in these different areas and partnerships, CTT wants to help the riders develop. One of the partners is SANAS; a supplement partner of the team who makes custom-made sports nutrition. Also Energy Lab is one of the partners that organises the testing, training programmes and training rides.

“We started a couple of weeks ago by reading existing scientific literature," Bingé said. "There is already a lot of material that can be found, so we don’t need to invent new things. It’s an art to use the available scientific knowledge and put it into useful protocols and guidelines. Riders don’t need figures and graphics; they want to know what they can eat and which food is healthy. We want to keep it as simple as possible; not because the riders are stupid, because we see more and more scientific books in their rooms. This creates a nice dynamic.

“The first focus is to optimise their nutrition. We don’t just eat whatever we like, what is on the plate is based on several things: type of rider, kind of training, period in the season, taste,… By optimising the nutrition and adjusting it to the training programme, we can still make some progress. Next important thing is the fluid intake. During this training camp, we’re calculating the fluid intake for every rider individually. Before and after every training, we test them on multiple parameters and collect the figures so we can give the riders a perfect insight in their needs.”