Coronavirus: Lotto-Soudal riders and staff members give up part of their salary

The Lotto Soudal team announced yesterday evening in a press release that it was forced to take measures to deal with the difficult circumstances. Riders, staff members and team employees are partially giving up their salaries until racing resumes to cope with the economic repercussions linked to the Coronavirus epidemic.

Source: Press Release – Photo credit: Lotto-Soudal

“The consequences of Covid 19 affect the entire UCI WorldTeam Lotto Soudal. Races are cancelled or postponed indefinitely, so 25 staff members find themselves unemployed by force of circumstances. The Lotto Soudal cycling team is not only very concerned, compassionate and supportive of all those affected by the disease, but also expresses its support for the team’s partners who are going through an economically difficult period. The team remains extremely active, but is deprived of its raison d’être, namely to score points by winning races.

The cancellation of races also has repercussions for the majority of support staff. Mechanics, soigneurs, physiotherapists and bus drivers are thus involuntarily sidelined and temporarily unemployed. Employees can temporarily resort to the temporary unemployment system for force majeure. Self-employed workers, whose contracts have been temporarily suspended, will be able to benefit from support measures such as the financial benefit of the bridging right. All these measures taken by the Belgian government allow companies to reduce their personnel costs for a certain period, without having to resort to layoffs. In less than a month, more than a million Belgians have also found themselves in temporary unemployment.

The 27 riders of the Lotto Soudal team continue to train in the meantime to be ready and competitive as soon as races can resume. In solidarity with the staff and sponsors, the riders, as well as the entire team management and administrative staff, spontaneously decided to give up part of their salary until races resume. This decision was taken without any discussion and unanimously. It was clear to everyone that special circumstances require special actions from the team. “