The LottoNL-Jumbo classics team will head to Tenerife for an altitude training camp in February. It is the first time that the team which has been known as Belkin for the past few years, has chosen this approach, team coach Louis Delahaije tells Wielerrevue. The team chooses the extra altitude training as they expect it to make the riders stronger also for the classics.

Last year Team Sky tried a similar approach but they failed to deliver any kind of results in the big one-day races. Delahaije blames the failue on the structure of the camp. According to the Dutchman, the British team only spent 10 days in Tenerife. "For me ten days is not altitude training. Then I think it would be better to stay at ome. LottoNL-Jumbo will certainly stay on the island for two to three weeks," the coach said. "Either we do it thoroughly or we won't do it all."

For the coming season, LottoNL-Jumbo has planned three altitude traing camps. In February, a select group heads to Tenerife to prepare for the classics and the stage races Tirreno-Adriatico and Paris-Nice. In April, a second training camp on the Canary Island will be held in preparation of the Giro. In the time before the Tour, an altitude camp is planned in Sierra Nevada in southern Spain.

For the altitude training in February, Tom Leezer, Kevin de Weert, Robert Gesink and Wilco Kelderman have been selected. For Gesink and Kelderman, the camp will both prepare them for the classics and the stage races in the spring. Tom Leezer will only train for the one-day races on the Mount Teide volcano. "We know that he is responding well to altitude training," said Delahaije.