Algemeen Stéphane Heulot appointed as new CEO of Lotto Dstny cycling team
Belgian professional cycling team Lotto Dstny has found a new CEO in Stéphane Heulot. The Belgium based manager will succeed John Lelangue as of January 1st. After a thorough search in which all possible options were carefully explored, both the team and Stéphane Heulot concluded that their history and experience in the sport, professional ambition and shared vision towards the future make a perfect match.
Stéphane Heulot (51) was a professional cyclist from 1992 until 2002. He wore the yellow jersey in the Tour de France of 1996. In the same year he became French champion. After his active career, Stéphane Heulot was involved in the management of several professional and development teams. He also worked as a business coach in France and Belgium.
The team and Stéphane Heulot found each other after a thorough search by Lotto Dstny. The team wanted someone with a profound knowledge of and experience in cycling, but with proven skills outside the sport as well. Stéphane Heulot is the perfect candidate. After his professional cycling career in France, he moved to the heart of cycling in Belgium, where he further developed himself as a manager. Lotto Dstny and Stéphane Heulot have a shared vision on the way a team should be run, talent development and ethics in sports. The team is convinced that he, together with sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer, Chief Business Officer Yana Seel and all other staff and riders, will get Lotto Dstny back to the WorldTour.
Stéphane Heulot comments: “I am very honored to get the confidence of the Captains of Cycling Board of Directors and become a part of this beautiful team, based in the heartland of cycling. As a rider, I have spent hours and hours in the peloton with the Lotto riders. During all those years, it has always been clear what this team stands for: passion, striving for excellence, ethics in sportsmanship, riding for success and with bravery. We are facing a challenging time, but I am ready to take on the responsibility to lead us towards the next chapter. Like me, the Lotto Dstny team has always had a strong focus on talent development. Helping the women’s team take the next steps, is a challenge I very much look forward to as well. Thanks to its unique structure, Lotto Dstny has a very strong fanbase. Some of our fans are even shareholders. I look forward to meeting each of them in the upcoming general assembly of the Captains of Cycling.”
“With the support of the strong, reliable and loyal sponsors of the team - Lotto, the historical partner of the team, and Dstny the newcomer - I want us to get results and win races. The sponsors believe in this team to increase their reputation in Belgium and abroad and I am convinced we can give back to them what they give to this team. There is a group of strong and talented riders, supported by sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer, the performance team, the medical team, the trainers, sports directors, soigneurs, mechanics, administrative team and all the suppliers. It will be an honor to lead all of them. All those years in cycling and the fact that I have been living in Belgium for the past years, have taught me where the heart of cycling beats. As general manager, I will be the biggest fan of Lotto Dstny with the ambition to bring it back to the WorldTour and to guarantee its bright future for the next decades.”