Yves Lessens and Jean-Marc Rossignon take over the club in 1997
When Yves Lessens concluded his long cycling career, he stayed in the cycling world he loved so much. He accepted the offer of the president of the Vélo Club d’Ath to become a sports director in the team of Hainaut.
“The other staff members quit the structure, I was on my own. Or I continued or the Vélo Club d’Ath disappeared…”
He chose to continue and asked his friend Jean-Marc Rossignon to help building the team, which had a budget af around 400 000 Belgian franks.
“Yves asked me to help him with the youth club. It was a small team at the time. I accepted the offer. When I arrived, there were around fifteen riders: U17, juniors and amateurs. He was secretary, I was treasurer. And we fulfilled many other roles: team manager, mechanic, soigneur, …”
