John Lelangue joins the “Lang Team” and the Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour

John Lelangue joins the “Lang Team” Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour. As a General Manager, he will close one decade and open another with a fresh look at the future of the competition.

Already Deputy Competitions Director for many years at ASO – Tour de France, Director of the Doha2016 UCI Road World Championships in Qatar, and UCI Senior Advisor for the development of races and Urban World Championships in China, John will undoubtedly be a very valuable support for the further development of the Tour de Pologne UCI World Tour, the ORLEN Nations Grand Prix and the Tour de Pologne Juniors, as well as all theother events organised by the Lang Team for years now.

“I felt it was time to return to my roots and I needed a new challenge,” says Lelangue. “The organisation and management of races and events is a world that fascinates me and of which I am a part. It was not an easy decision to leave my role as CEO of the Lotto Soudal World Tour Team but I am really happy to join the Lang team as General Manager,” he explains.

Son of art and with cycling in his heart since childhood, John was Head Sports Director of the BMC team from 2008 until 2013 – leading Cadel Evans to the Tour de France victory in 2011 – before joining the Lotto Soudal team in 2019 where he was both CEO and General Manager.

“I want to thank Czeslaw Lang for the trust he has shown me and for the incredible opportunity he is giving me. There are many goals that we have set for ourselves and I will put all my experience, gained over many years in cycling and events, at the disposal of my new team not only for existing events, but also to launch new ones. I am really excited about this new challenge,‘ he concludes.

The Tour de Pologne will celebrate its 80th edition this year, a number that closes one decade and adds another to the long history of a race that has always combined the culture and tradition of a people with its love of cycling. A milestone that certainly looks to the future, also thanks to this important change.

“A new season full of novelties awaits us, and we are ready and really happy to welcome John to the team, who has 10 years of experience in organising the Tour de France and other championship races.” – says Czeslaw Lang, president of Lang Team and Tour de Pologne race director. “He has a lot of experience, more than 30 years in cycling, he used to follow races when his dad managed professional teams. You can see that he belongs to this world. What’s more, he comes from Belgium, a country where cycling is almost a religion. We have a lot in common, but what unites us the most is undoubtedly a passion for cycling and what cycling represents. John will be another person with international experience in the Lang Team. We already have Italians working with us: Isabella Negri who is in charge of the radio tour, Marco Velo who is the race moderator and Austrian Ursula Riha-Kocher is teams coordinator. I am sure that his arrival will bring an additional air of internationality to our race and I look forward to our projects together,’ he concludes.

2023 will be a special year for the Tour de Pologne, with a new chapter starting. Lelangue will surely bring to the Lang Team a genuine added value to the Polish team’s already long experience in organising international events.