Team Giant-Alpecin is pleased to announce its final nine-rider lineup for the second Grand Tour of the 2016 season, the Tour de France. The 103rd edition of the Tour returns home for the start in the city of Mont Saint-Michel, the first-ever Grand Départ in the region of Normandy.

With an impressive history of nine stage wins in the previous three editions of the Tour de France, Team Giant-Alpecin heads to this year’s race once again with the goal of stage success in the sprint stages with a difficult finale, the intermediate stages and the mountain stages. In addition, the team aims to further develop its riders and enhance the quality of the entire team, with an increasing focus on the overall classification.

Simon Geschke (GER), who took a fantastic victory in last year’s stage 17, will be lining up for his fourth Grande Boucle. French climber Warren Barguil, who finished 14th in his Tour debut last year, will be looking to take another step forward in his long-term GC development and will aim to improve on this result. 

Also in the lineup is John Degenkolb (GER), who will focus on the sprint stages with a tough finale. Degenkolb has had a difficult comeback from the training accident in January. He has shown a great deal of dedication and hard work in making his return to competition, and he made good progress over the last few months of racing at the Amgen Tour of California and the Critérium du Dauphiné. Following the Giro d’Italia, the team identified participation in the Tour as the ideal next step toward Tom Dumoulin’s (NED) second goal of the season, in Rio. Dumoulin will be primarily focusing on stage results.

Laurens ten Dam (NED) is set to make his eighth appearance in the Tour de France and his first with the team. He will bring crucial experience and will provide valuable support in the mountains. Georg Preidler (AUT) showed his potential during this year’s Giro d’Italia with a third place in the queen stage, one of three top-10 results for him in the Giro. Team Giant-Alpecin’s lineup for its sixth start at the Tour is completed by road captain Roy Curvers (NED) and trusty lead-out men Ramon Sinkeldam (NED) and Albert Timmer (NED).  

Coach Aike Visbeek said ahead of the Tour: “Our goals will be to go for a stage victory, as we see several opportunities to achieve that, and also to explore our possibilities in the GC with Warren. We have made a long-term plan with him, aiming to develop his general classification performance over the next few years. This will be his second appearance in his home Grand Tour, and we believe a top-15 is again a realistic target for him.

“We have a great blend of experience and youth in our lineup. This year’s Tour de France offers more opportunities in the mountains, with some tough stages, and we took that into consideration when we made our final selection.”

LINE-UP

Warren Barguil (FRA)
Roy Curvers (NED)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Laurens ten Dam (NED)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)