Mixed feelings at Silence-Lotto. The Belgian Pro-Tour team is looking forward to the 2008 season, but at the beginning
of the year team manager Marc Sergeant received bad news. His mother passed away. In a statement at the team website silence-lotto.com,
the team announced: "All our compassion is with Marc and his family. May they have the strength to pass these difficult
days."
The first race of the team will be the Australian Tour Down Under, which is now part of the Pro-Tour calendar. Silence-Lotto
will start with 4 Belgian riders, Wim Vansevenant, Mario Aerts, Olivier Kaisen and Pieter Jacobs and three Aussies: Robbie
McEwen, Matthew Lloyd and Nick Gates. The Australian stage race will start at January 20 but the Australian riders will kick
off their season one week earlier. McEwen & co will start their season at the Australian National Road Championships on
January 13 at Ballarat.
The remaining riders will continue their preparation for the season with a team training campat Albufeira, Portugal,
from 8 to 17 January.
