AG2R La Mondiale have announced their rosters for the upcoming Middle Eastern races, Tour of Qatar and Tour of Oman. The team will bring their cobbled specialists Damien Gaudin, Sebastien Turgot and Johan Vansummeren to the Qatari desert while Romain Bardet and Domenico Pozzovivo target victory in the Omani mountains.

"I am looking forward to race," Gaudin said. "Tour of Qatar is a special race, very windy, with echelons. I hope I will be good enough to win a stage or a good ranking in the time trial. For me, Qatar is the starting point to the classics.

"Tour of Oman is a different race with longer and more difficult stages. I will help Romain Bardet and Domenico Pozzovivo who aim for the GC.

"This winter, the project of a French team pursuit at the 2016 Olympics has been given up. I dreamt of participating in my second Olympics after Beijing in 2008. We started the qualification process too late to succeed."

Tour of Qatar (February 8th-12th) AG2R Team roster:

Gediminas Bagdonas, Damien Gaudin, Patrick Gretsch, Hugo Houle, Sébastien Minard, Jesse Sergent, Sébastien Turgot and Johan Vansummeren. 

Tour of Oman (February 17th-22th) AG2R Team Roster:

Romain Bardet, Damien Gaudin, Alexis Gouegard, Hugo Houle, Sébastien Minard, Domenico Pozzovivo, Sébastien Turgot and Johan Vansummeren