Mehdi Sohrabi (Tabriz Petrochemical) tried to replicate his stage win from the Tour of Qinghai Lake in July when he broke free of the leading group of five riders with Volodymyr Duma (Ukrainian National Team). (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com)
Off-season training is going well for the Lotto-Belisol squad, who are currently holding a team camp in Mojacar, Spain. Since December 6, the Belgian outfit directed by Marc Sergeant has gathered on the Southern Spanish coastline to work out smoothly in decent temperatures between 15 and 20° Celsius.
The team, which has just announced its line-up for the first World Tour event of 2012, the Santos Tour Down Under, is doing four-hour training rides each day. Sergeant was impressed with the way his returning riders had already integrated the new arrivals amongst them, and with the strength and motivation some of them were showing.
"The good atmosphere that we already felt during the team building camp now continues on the bike," the team manager told Het Nieuwsblad. "The integration of Mehdi Sohrabi is also going well. On both a cultural and sporting level, the man is making enormous efforts and is surprising us with his explosiveness and power."
The Iranian, two-time wnner of the UCI Asia Tour, was signed by Lotto as a valuable addition for next season, notably securing its World Tour status. The mostly Belgian team nevertheless has eight foreign riders on its 2012 roster after parting ways with Omega Pharma at the end of this season. The team's star rider next year will be the German sprinter André Greipel.
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