Team Sunweb have announced their final selection for the Vuelta a España and the nine-rider line-up has been selected with an eye on the future.
The line-up includes five Grand Tour debutants: Søren Kragh Andersen, Chris Hamilton, Lennard Hofstede, Lennard Kämna and Sam Oomen, as the team focus on the long-term development of these riders.
The young team will be complemented by experienced road captain Johannes Fröhlinger as well as climber Warren Barguil, who won the KOM jersey at this year’s Tour de France in addition to winning two stages en route to a 10th place overall finish.
Barguil has performed well at the Vuelta a España previously, winning two stages in the 2013 edition and finishing 8th overall in 2014.
A key member of the team’s successful Giro d’Italia squad, Chad Haga completes the team alongside Wilco Kelderman.
Speaking about Team Sunweb’s line-up for the Vuelta, coach Marc Reef explained: “We have a good combination of experienced riders and young talents with huge strength and potential on our line-up. We want our younger riders to see what it takes to complete a three week race and give them the opportunity to learn from our more experienced Grand Tour riders, without any form of pressure.
“The team have just come out of a solid period of preparation including a combination of racing and training at altitude and are all really motivated for a great race. We have completed some recons and analysis to become familiar with the important sections of the course and to help us formulate the best plan suited to our strengths in order to achieve our goal of looking for GC possibilities in Spain.”
