ProTeam Harm Vanhoucke returns to Lotto Dstny
Harm Vanhoucke will be part of Lotto Dstny again from Tuesday 15 August onwards. The 26-year-old rider signed a contract with the Belgian formation until the end of 2024.
Vanhoucke is a familiar face at Lotto Dstny. As a youngster he raced with the U23 team, before signing a contract with the professional team in 2018. During that time Vanhoucke showed his climbing legs with amongst others two third places in stages of the Giro (2021 and 2020) and he was close to his first professional victory in the Sibiu Cycling Tour (2022).
Last year he switched to Team DSM, but by mutual agreement the rider will now return to Lotto Dstny where he signed a contract until the end of 2024. “I got warm memories of my time in this team”, says Vanhoucke, “and I’m very happy to return to this family. I'm making a fresh start here and want to be the rider I was before."
“In recent months I spoke to many riders of the team,” he continues, “I kept following Lotto Dstny and you just feel the team has taken some nice steps while they continue to invest in the future.”
His ambition at Lotto Dstny remains intact. “I want to show myself in smaller one-week stage races, such as the Sibiu Tour or the Deutschland Tour and help the team in the Ardennes Classics. I get on well with Maxim (Van Gils). He has made a lot of progress this year and showed great things. I’m looking forward to do my part and help both Maxim and Andreas (Kron) in their races.”
Sports manager Kurt Van de Wouwer is happy with the return of Harm Vanhoucke. “We know the capacities of Harm”, says Van de Wouwer, “he climbs well and it was important to strengthen our team in that area. Just like before, he will be allowed to take his chance in smaller stage races and he will also have a supporting role in the races with Andreas (Kron) and Maxim (Van Gils). He also performs well in a Grand Tour. We all remember the Giro of 2022 where he played an important role in the victory of Thomas De Gendt. We like to see things like again that and we are convinced that he can show us even more in the upcoming months and the following year.”
Picture: Vanvid Multimedia