Monfort happy with new Luxembourg Cycling Project

Maxime Monfort has returned from his new squad's first training camp with very good impressions. After one week spent in the Swiss Alps in Crans Montana with the new Luxembourg team, the Belgian was impressed with the gathering.

"The atmosphere was really very good," Monfort told La Dernière Heure. "We had the impression that everybody knew each other. There were no clans as one could have feared there would be: it was really the birth of the team."

Echoing the sentiments of some of his new teammates, the Belgian was well-integrated in the team building event that took place without any bike riding. "It wasn't a conventional training camp, as we didn't ride our bikes at all," said the 27-year-old.

"The first part of the camp was administrative, with meetings and race schedule elaboration, which resembled what I've known at HTC-Columbia. But the second, greater part was dedicated to team building, to create a team spirit."

"We did Alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, hiking in the mountains with one night spent in a refuge, but also some ice-skating and games on ice.

"The whole thing was quite physical, especially the work-out in altitude. I realized this when I returned to ride my bike on Monday and Tuesday: I immediately felt that I hadn't lost my form."

With Northern Europe still under the snow, the Belgian has now travelled to the French Côte d'Azur to continue working on his pre-season build-up.