Friday sees the start of the Tour de Picardie, in France, where Marcel Kittel (Argos-Shimano) will be looking to pick up from where he left off in Turkey with three stages. Last year, Kittel’s compatriot, John Degenkolb, took the first and last stages as well as the overall so the team has already experienced victory here.

The UCI 2.1 race is once again held over three days with the stages well suited for sprinters. Kittel will have a strong team around him, including Ramon Sinkeldam, who showed a good vain of form in Dunkerque recently.

Looking ahead to Picardie, sports manager Marc Reef said: “We’ve got a very strong team with Kittel as our leader for the bunch sprints. The GC will come down to a fight over the bonus seconds. The previous few races have showed us that the riders are ready.

“Tom Veelers will race for the first time since his operation. He will come straight from our training base in the Spanish Altea Hills where he has been training to get himself back into shape.”

Argos-Shimano line-up for Tour de Picardie:

Will Clarke, Roy Curvers, Jonas Ahlstrand, Reinardt Janse van Rensburg, Marcel Kittel, Ramon Sinkeldam and Tom Veelers.