Lennert Van Eetvelt

Lennert Van Eetvelt
	Van Eetvelt at the 2021 Tour Alsace
Personal information
Born	17 July 2001 (age 22); Tienen, Belgium
Height	1.75 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	63 kg (139 lb)
Team information
Current team	Lotto–Dstny
Discipline	Road
Role	Rider
Rider type	Climber
Amateur teams
2018	Wim Ruelens Olympia Tienen
2019	Brain² Olympia Tienen
2020–2022	Lotto–Soudal U23
Professional team
2023–	Lotto–Dstny
Major wins
	Stage races UAE Tour (2024)

Lennert Van Eetvelt (born 17 July 2001) is a Belgian cyclist, who currently rides for UCI ProTeam Lotto–Dstny.^[2]^[3]

Career[edit]

Early years[edit]

Van Eetvelt started cycling when he was 8 or 9 years old.^[4] As a junior rider, he finished third in the Aubel–Thimister–Stavelot and eighth in the Course de la Paix Juniors, before being recruited by Lotto–Soudal U23, the development program for UCI ProTeam Lotto–Soudal, in 2020. The following year, he was crowned the Belgian under-23 time trial champion.^[5]. In 2022, he showed strength in stage races, winning the Course de la Paix U23 – Grand Prix Jeseníky and finishing runner-up in the Giro Ciclistico d'Italia and the Tour Alsace. In April, he also finished second to Romain Grégoire in the single-day Liège–Bastogne–Liège Espoirs. Three days after this race, it was announced that he would step up to Lotto–Dstny in 2023.^[6]

Professional career[edit]

In his first week racing as a professional, Van Eetvelt took two podium finishes in the Challenge Mallorca, finishing second in the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana and third in the Trofeo Andratx–Mirador D'es Colomer. In March, he took part in his first UCI World Tour level event, finishing 15th overall in the Volta a Catalunya. In April, he competed in the La Flèche Wallonne, finishing 22nd. He then won the Alpes Isère Tour in May while riding down a level with the development squad, taking solo victories on the last two stages.^[7] He took his first pro level win on stage two of the Sibiu Cycling Tour in July, going on to enter his first Grand Tour: the Vuelta a España in August. On stage 14, he placed third, having been part of the breakaway, followed by a 4th place on the penultimate stage, again being part of the breakaway.^[8]

On January 26, 2024, he won the Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana, part of the Challenge Mallorca, beating Aleksandr Vlasov and Brandon McNulty in a three-way sprint.^[7] On February 25, he won the final stage solo at the top of Jebel Hafeet and took the general classification of the UAE Tour, his first victory in a UCI World Tour race.^[9]