Lotto Belisol will line up most of their Giro roster in the Tour de Suisse which starts tomorrow. Maxime Monfort will target the GC while Kenny Dehaes, Jonas Vangenechten and Tosh van der Sande will chase success in the sprint stages of a race that will be the final Tour de France preparation for Jelle Vanendert.

The WorldTour peloton will be active on two fronts this weekend. While the last stages in the Critérium du Dauphiné take place, the Tour de Suisse begins. This stage race runs from Saturday the 14th of June until Sunday the 22nd of June. Five riders in the Lotto Belisol selection have participated in the Giro, among them Maxime Monfort.

Two individual time trials are planned in Switzerland. On the opening day the time trial is 9.4 kilometers long, with a short climb in the second part of the course. The second time trial will take place on Friday, over a distance of 24.5 kilometers. Also here the road goes up a few times. The last 5.5 kilometers go downwards.

On Sunday the riders will already have to cover two climbs hors catégorie: the Gotthardpass and Furkapass. These are followed by two climbs of second category. The last top comes 22 kilometers from the end.
 
In the third stage there are three climbs of second category on the course, with a hill at the end. Tuesday and Wednesday are the most flat stages. On Thursday the course contains four climbs, one of first category and one of second category in the first half and in the final a climb of second and one of third category. The finish line is drawn a few kilometers after the last descent.

On Saturday 21st of June the peloton will arrive in the ski town of Verbier. After reaching the top of a climb hors catégorie 1.8 kilometers to the finish are left to cover. The final stage will be tough. After 40 and 60 kilometers of racing respectively, the top of a first and second category climb are located. At the end there's the hors catégorie climb to Saas-Fee.
 
"Like every year the course is pretty tough," sports director Kurt van de Wouver said. "Maxime Monfort can aim for a good result in the overall classification, depending on how he has recuperated after the Giro. We will wait for the opening time trial and mountain stage of Sunday. If he's lost too much time, we can change our tactics and Monfort can go for a stage win. For those who rode the Giro, we'll see how it goes.
 
"In the beginning of next week there are three stages that possibly can end with a bunch sprint. Kenny Dehaes, Tosh Van der Sande and Jonas Van Genechten are fast. During the stage we can decide who will be our man for the sprint. In the preparation on the bunch sprint we might help, but one won't expect from us that we take control of the race."
 
Selection Lotto Belisol: Sander Armée, Vegard Breen, Kenny Dehaes, Gert Dockx, Maxime Monfort, Tosh Van der Sande, Jonas Van Genechten and Jelle Vanendert.