Vincenzo Nibali leads strong roster in Tour de France
Jul 01 2019 09:32 pm CET
Photo of Vincenzo Nibali by Bahrain-Merida
Bahrain-Merida is set to start in the Tour de France with a versatile team that can shine in every terrain. Vincenzo Nibali will lead the roster for the General Classification aspirations, while other riders can fight for stage glory.
Nibali will start in La Grande Boucle for the sixth time in his career and will do so with the objective of taking a good GC position. "We have worked really hard on getting the best possible team to this year's Tour de France," said General Manager Brent Copeland. "The sports directors and trainers, as well as all the team's staff, have done a fantastic job both at the races and behind the scenes to make sure the team is at its best for this important appointment of the season, especially considering the difficult start to the season we had with many injuries.
"Thanks to this hard work we are convinced of having a great Tour de France. When you go to any race with a rider as talented as Vincenzo Nibali you know it's going to be an exciting one and this is what we looking forward to. The past month's optimistic results with Dylan Teuns and Rohan Dennis have shown that we moving in the right direction to make for some great racing."
Riders like Dylan Teuns and Matej Mohoric can fight in the rolling stages, Rohan Dennis in the time trials and Sonny Colbrelli and Ivan Garcia Cortina on the fast days. "It's a complete team which will be competitive in any kind of stage," said sports director Gorazd Stangelj.
"Vincenzo will be able to aim for the GC, while Dylan and Matej Mohoric will be the day strikers. To them, add two sprinters like Sonny Colbrelli and the young Ivan Garcia Cortina and Dennis for the time trials, two solid riders like Damiano Caruso and Jan Tratnik complete a well-balanced team."
Nibali is looking forward to the race. "I will listen to my feelings in the first week of the race and after the first uphill finish at La panche des belles filles I will see where I am," he explained. "After Giro d'Italia I recovered the fatigue and the last two weeks I did a training camp in the Alps with my teammate Damiano.
"As usual, the TDF's route is very demanding and there are several ascents beyond the 2000 meters of altitude that will make more selection. Difficult to say who is the favourite, certainly the riders who can win are different and I am sure it will be a tough battle."
Bahrain-Merida's line-up for the Tour de France (6th to 28th of July):
Ivan Garcia Cortina
Matej Mohoric
Dylan Teuns
Damiano Caruso
Vincenzo Nibali
Rohan Dennis
Sonny Colbrelli
Jan Tratnik
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