Lone
Meertens

Lone's Bio

Lone Meertens is a 24-year-old sports talent from Hasselt. She grew up in the world of triathlon and athletics (1500m). Swimming was not her strongest discipline, but she always showed a huge commitment by training five to six times a week.

“When I started my civil engineering studies at KU Leuven, it quickly became clear that it was difficult to combine those studies with my sport. I also got tired of the early morning swimming sessions and decided to quit triathlon and start road cycling."

In 2018, Lone decided to exchange triathlon for road cycling and ended up with the Keukens Redant team, of which she was part until 2019. In 2020 she made the switch to the Belgian cycling team Lotto Soudal Ladies, where she was under contract for two years. Unfortunately, covid changed plans, so she couldn’t make the progress she had in mind. On top of that, the team went through some reorganizations and many riders had to take a different path.

During a training camp with the riders of the Belgian team, Lone had a conversation with Jolien D'hoore.

“They wanted to make an exception for me with the U23 age rule in 2022 because I still have little experience in the racing world and can therefore still learn a lot. My ambition is therefore to develop myself further and dare to race offensively, hopefully with some good results to show for. I am also convinced that I can learn a lot from Jolien.

I really like the story and the idea behind the team. It is very nice what they are doing for women's cycling by enabling inexperienced riders to enter the WWT peloton and trying to offer them every opportunity and material. The professional appearance and the beautiful race program is exactly what I was looking for.”

Season 2023 will be Lone's fourth season in road cycling for a UCI team. Lone describes cycling as an amazing sport as it allows her to explore the world by bike. She hopes to learn a lot within the team and to improve her endurance.