With a part of the team tackling the Ardennes Classics in northern Europe, Tinkoff will also be lining up with seven riders at the six-day Tour of Croatia, starting on April 19. The team for the UCI 2.1 classified race will be focused on seizing its opportunities where they present themselves, while taking the chances for the overall classification day-by-day with climbers Jesper Hansen and Sergio Paulinho.
 
This year is only the second edition of the race, and the first time that Tinkoff will have lined up here. The stages each offer different opportunities including an opening sprint stage, a mountain stage and a team time trial on the penultimate day of racing.
 
Joining Hansen and Paulinho in Croatia are sprinters Michael Kolar and Erik Baška, together with Juraj Sagan and Nikolay Trusov who have recently been supporting Peter Sagan at the cobblestone classics. The roster is then completed by Jay McCarthy who comes to the tour from Sunday's Amstel Gold Race.

Sport Director Jan Valach, who will be in Croatia together with Ivan Basso, said: “We will be taking it stage by stage with the guys here, but we have a strong, balanced team who can score results on the different stages that we have. In Sergio and Jesper we’ve got two climbers for the tougher stages, then for the sprints we have Michael Kolar and Erik Baška. Juraj and Nikolay have been in good condition at the classics, and then Jay has already shown his strength this season.
 
“We have a young team who as well as results are coming here to gain experience, so we aren’t looking to control the race, rather to be opportunistic. Jesper and Sergio will concentrate on stage 4, for GC. Then the other guys will go for stage results and we hope to give everyone their chance here.
 
“We come here with just seven guys after a hard race programme and some illness in the team. But we have a strong line up with young guys who are hungry to race so we’re looking forward to tackling each day as it comes.”
 
Looking at the stages ahead, Valach picked out the obvious stage 4 as the key day for the GC, with its difficult mountain-top finish, but also the stage 5 team time trial as an important one for the team.

“Obviously we want to come into stage 5 with all seven guys and from there to have a good test as a team. This stage together with the entire race will be a good experience for the young guys and I hope by the end of the week that we can look back on a successful race.”