Squad focusses on sprints and breakaways, final selection next week
Narrowing down its shortlist of riders who could do the Tour de France to thirteen, the Argos Shimano team has named two of the top sprinters in the sport, namely Marcel Kittel and John Degenkolb, to its preliminary lineup for the race.
It has also identified riders that would be in a position to help them achieve the best possible results, as well as others who can ride the race aggressively and chase results from breaks.
General manager Iwan Spekenbrink explained the thinking behind the selection of the thirteen riders, which will be further reduced to nine shortly and then revealed next week.
“When we got together with the coaches to discuss this Tour de France, we saw that our sprint train would have some good opportunities to demonstrate its speed in different scenarios,” he explained.
“We also expect that on some of the stages offensive riders could stay away to the finish, and we expect to play a role in these breaks.”
Kittel and Degenkolb have proven their speed in the past year, with the former getting the better of Mark Cavendish in Scheldeprijs and also notching up numerous victories, and the latter clocking up five stage wins in the 2012 Vuelta a España.
They are joined in the provisional listing by the Dutchmen Koen de Kort, Tom Dumoulin, Roy Curvers, Ramon Sinkeldam, Albert Timmer and Tom Veelers, the Germans Johannes Fröhlinger and Simon Geschke, the Belgian Bert de Backer and the French duo Yann Huguet and Thierry Hupond.
The final lineup of the squad will be unveiled in just over one week’s time when the Argos Shimano team presentation will be revealed on June 18th.
“We’ve worked from the start of this team to develop the strength and value of each rider, with a staff structure built around the riders to help them improve,” said Spekenbrink. “We’ve created dedicated training plans for each individual, focused on their specialty, and have adopted the latest innovations to make sure we’re giving ourselves the best possible chance of success and not leaving any details to chance.
“Now we’re reviewing the capabilities and characteristics of the preselected riders to create the best team and sprint train possible.”
Team Argos-Shimano preselection for Tour de France (June 29 – July 21):
Bert De Backer (BEL)
Roy Curvers (NED)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Yann Huguet (FRA)
Thierry Hupond (FRA)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Koen de Kort (NED)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Tom Veelers (NED)