Lotto-Soudal welcomes the many possible sprints in the Tour next year, but the Belgian team sees more opportunities. "Tim Wellens will find his terrain here," team manager Marc Sergeant told Sporza.

"Nine chances for the sprinters suit us," Marc Sergeant (Lotto-Soudal) said. "But we prefer not to be up against the Cavendish of this year and win a stage a lot earlier. But this Tour is good for the sprinters.

"The course does not look too hard but a few stages still have a lot of climbing. This Tour is made for attackers. I think the Tour will provoke attacks.

"Then we think of Thomas De Gendt and Tony Gallopin, but also Tim Wellens. This is a beautiful invitation for him. He is an attacke par excellence and will find his terrain here.

"How will I convince Tim? We need to talk about it. Now it's hard though to say whether he will do the Tour. This year Roelandts did not want to go, but suddenly he changed his mind. A decision is too early.”