Expects strong showing from Schlecks
Double Tour of Denmark winner Jakob Fuglsang will make his Tour de France debut in Rotterdam on Saturday and, according to a Saxo Bank team-mate, could make an immediate impression in the race.
Chris Anker Sørensen has a lot of faith in his compatriot’s abilitites, and believes that if things go well, he could finish close to the other race favourites.
“Jakob Fuglsang is a rider who I would venture to say could already finish in the top ten of the Tour de France, if that is what the goal is for him,” he told Feltet.dk.
Fuglsang highlighted his strong form recently with third overall in the Tour de Suisse. The former mountainbike rider is just 25 years old but clearly has what it takes to be a successful stage race rider.
He spoke to VeloNation earlier this month and sounded enthusiastic about the thoughts of doing his first Tour. “I am really looking forward to it,” he said. “It is going to be fun, it is going to be hard, but it is going to be a great experience.”
He played down suggestions that he could go for individual success. “ I don’t think I will go for a stage or anything. I will go there to help Frank and Andy. That is my own goal, to be there for them and to be able to help them as much as possible.” However, in supporting them in the mountains, he could still ride to a high GC placing, much as Christian Vande Velde did last year while helping Bradley Wiggins.
Fuglsang aside, Sorensen believes the talent of the two captains plus the collective strength of the team means that Saxo Bank will have a great Tour.
“I think we have really nice opportunity to make good results. We have an enormously strong team,” he said. “I would also say that we are stronger than last year because Andy is a year older. Fränk has shown that he suddenly is good at time trials, so I think it bodes incredibly well.”
Fuglsang is similarly enthusiastic, telling VeloNation before the Tour de Suisse that he expects the two brothers to be in superb form.
“Talking to Andy, he said that he feels like he is in better shape now than he was at this time last year,” he said. “If you look at how he did last year, then I don’t think you need to be worried. And also Frank has been strong all year – he is missing the results a little bit, but in Luxembourg he got a stage win and was second overall. I think he will be really strong…I think he will be stronger than last year in the Tour. There’s a chance that both of them could be on the podium.”
His view is likely to have been reinforced by what he saw at the Tour de Suisse. Frank Schleck pulled out the best time trial of his career and won the general classification, netting a completely unexpected success.