Wout Poels will lead a strong Team Sky squad at the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana which starts this Wednesday. The Dutchman won the race overall two years ago.
Looking forward to his first start of 2018, Poels said: “I’m really looking forward to this season. I finished 2017 off strongly at the Vuelta a Espana and now it’s time to get back in the game and try to get some nice results.
“Naturally sixth place at the Vuelta gave me a lot of confidence. I hope I get more opportunities to do more things like that in the Grand Tours. For now, I’m just excited to get back to racing, starting this week.”
The Dutchman is joined by David de la Cruz, Vasil Kiryienka, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Diego Rosa and Ian Stannard.
Team Sky Directeur Sportif Servais Knaven explained the plan for the week ahead.
Knaven said: “Wout is going to be the leader and he is aiming to win the race again, like he did two years ago. I saw him in Mallorca and he’s feeling good. He’s got no issues, he had a good winter and he’s up for going full gas this week. We have a few cards to play but Wout will be the leader.
“David de la Cruz is really excited to start the season and is in good shape as well, and Diego just had a son, so for sure he will be motivated!”
From a general classification standpoint Knaven also broke down the race.
“There are two days for GC. There’s a 30km team time trial on Friday and a mountaintop finish on Saturday. That will be important and we have a strong lineup for that TTT. Hopefully the guys will be able to take time on the other GC contenders – that would be great and that’s the aim. Then you’re in a good position for the mountaintop finish on Saturday, but if we have to make time back then we have a strong team who could make the race hard.
“It’s always good to have a TTT in a stage race. There’s not so many in general so it’s good to have it. It’s good practise for the new guys in the team but also, when you have a strong team, it could be a good start for GC as well. We’re really focused on that TTT – it’s a big goal for the week.
“The route is different again compared to last year and the year before, but it is similar. Two days for the sprinters, one day for the climbers, and last year we had a TTT as well. There’s a day with a pretty steep climb in the final where we expect a pretty small group to contest the finish. There’s a bit of everything so it’s a good race to start the season.”
