Lars Boom left Astana after disagreement with team management
Dec 16 2016 07:52 pm CET

Dutch cyclist Lars Boom says that he left Astana as a result of disagreement with the team's management.
Boom returned to LottoNL-Jumbo after two years at the Kazakh WorldTour formation. Talking to Dutch regional broadcaster Omroep Brabant, the 30-year-old explains that the final drop came after Paris-Roubaix.
"During a meeting after the race I was told that I hadn't shown enough commitment. But I was ill and I couldn't do anything more. I was quite disappointed with the team management then," he said.
"I did well until the spring season. Then it was gone. There were specific reasons for that. I have to deal with things differently now. Train harder, try to recover the feeling. If you can't ride the races you want to ride, you miss the motivation to do well."
Boom believes that the situation will be much better at his new team. "I now have the motivation I need. We made a clear plan and the people are very much on top of it here. Now I get home and the training session is put on the internet right away. If it's not good, they tell me right away. That's very important for me. I needed a different approach and I didn't get it at Astana."
The former cyclo-cross world champion joined LottoNL-Jumbo (then Rabobank) in 2009 after forming part of its development team for five seasons.