Struggling Lot Soudal is still looking for a team manager.

According to Het Laatste Nieuws (opens in new tab), former Classics specialist Chimil was told he lacked experience.

Lot Soudal was looking for a new CEO after it was announced at the end of September that John Lerang would step down after four years at the helm.

The search for a new boss was eventually narrowed down to a few candidates when Axel Merckx, who heads the renowned development team Axeon Hagens Berman, announced his own resignation.

Timir raced for Lotto from 1994 to 2002, winning Milan-San Remo, Tour de Flanders, and Paris-Roubaix. However, he will not lead the team in 2023 and is having a hard time accepting that.

"I don't understand. I don't speak Dutch or I don't live in Belgium. It's not that I don't have experience," he told Het Laatste Nieuws newspaper.

Timir holds Russian, Ukrainian, and Moldovan passports, and also acquired Belgian citizenship in 1998. A former coach of the Katusha team, he now runs a bicycle company in Moldova, but says he is eager to return to Belgium to help his former team, which will be revived as Lot Dostony in 2023.

"I asked if my age would be a disadvantage," he said. 'The answer was no. I don't understand."

The team is still looking to fill the vacant CEO post as part of the three rules for senior management positions, which include sports manager and chief business officer.

Kurt Van der Wouwer, who formerly ran the team's development department, has been promoted to sports manager, a position that has been vacant since the retirement of the previous general manager, Mark Serge, at the end of 2021.

Jana Schiele is in charge of the business side of the company and is reportedly not interested in the CEO role.

Frank Groleau, former CEO of Cycling Fullerndalen, is reportedly a candidate to replace Lerangue.