Team Sunweb has announced their long-list selection for the Tour de France, and they will head to La Grande Boucle focused on the General Classification with Tom Dumoulin as well as aiming for stage results in the uphill sprints with Michael Matthews.
Team Sunweb coach Tom Veelers said: “We have pre-selected a strong group of riders who are all capable of going to the Tour. We have two goals for this year’s Tour de France; we will make the first careful step in exploring our future GC ambitions and we will aim for stage results in the difficult sprint stages. As the world champions, the TTT is a stage that we have already highlighted and we will look for a solid result there.
“We’ve never been to the Tour de France with a GC focus and it will be a completely new experience for us and a long-term challenge that we are looking forward to.
“The parcours are demanding this year. The first week will be an extremely hectic one, with stages near to the coast, lots of narrow roads, the TTT, two uphill finishes, ending with the Roubaix cobble stage. The second week features summit finishes, short explosive stages, sprint opportunities and rolling terrain before the final mountain showdowns and an ITT ahead of the closing stage in Paris.”
Dumoulin commented: “I am very proud of what we’ve already achieved at the Giro and I consider any result that we can take at the Tour de France a bonus for this season. My season so far has been focused on the Giro and the team purposely waited to the make the decision about the Tour until after the Giro had finished. After a good Giro we’ve chosen to go to the Tour with a GC focus, to learn without a specific result in mind. Doing two consecutive grand tours for a GC will be a new experience for me and the team, and will give us some valuable insights for the future.”
Team Sunweb Longlist for the Tour de France:
Søren Kragh Andersen (DEN)
Nikias Arndt (GER)
Phil Bauhaus (GER)
Roy Curvers (NED)
Laurens ten Dam (NED)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Chad Haga (USA)
Wilco Kelderman (NED)
Michael Matthews (AUS)
Mike Teunissen (NED)
Edward Theuns (BEL)
