With the second Grand Tour of the season fast approaching, Team Sunweb is pleased to announce its long-list for the 2017 edition of Le Tour de France.
This year’s Tour de France is a special edition for Team Sunweb as it starts on home soil in Düsseldorf, Germany. The 104th edition of the race is made up of nine flat stages, five hilly stages, five mountain stages and two individual time trials, the first of which comes on the opening day.
Team Sunweb heads to the Tour de France with the main focus on stage success and its nine-rider line-up will be forged to chase this goal. Two of the team’s riders that are confirmed in this early stage are Michael Matthews (AUS) and his main lead-out man German Nikias Arndt. The duo were recently successful at the Tour de Suisse, catapulting Team Sunweb to victory on a difficult stage three. Next to their chances in both the flat stages and the sprint stages with a difficult finale, the team will add riders to the line-up to also fight for results on the hilly and mountainous terrain.
In advance of the Tour de France, Team Sunweb’s coaches and experts have created the most optimum performance plan in preparation for July, consisting of a mix between races, altitude training and balanced rest periods.
Team Sunweb’s trainer Hendrik Werner (GER) said: “This year our goal is to go for stage results and this long-list will offer plenty of talent and opportunities to select a powerful line-up. A line-up not only to support Michael optimally on the sprint stages with a strong lead-out, but also one to create opportunities from breakaways that potentially make it to the finish, as well as the intermediate stages. We have spent time training at altitude together, along with the rest of the team, building further on a strong foundation from the first racing block of the season to prepare for a tough three-week-journey in France. The last couple of races ahead of the Tour have been and will be used to focus on coaching, cooperation and on the dynamics within the team and to fine-tune the sprint preparation process.”
RACE
Le Tour de France (WT)
DATE
01-27/07/2017
COACHES
Arthur van Dongen (NED)
Luke Roberts (AUS)
Aike Visbeek (NED)
WEBSITE
www.letour.com
LONG-LIST
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Phil Bauhaus (GER)
Roy Curvers (NED)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Michael Matthews (AUS)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Tom Stamsnijder (NED)
Laurens ten Dam (NED)
Mike Teunissen (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
