As per tradition, Team Europcar have announced their Tour de France roster after the French championships and the French squad will line up in their most important race with three leaders. Pierre Rolland will hope to shine in the mountains and targets the GC, Thomas Voeckler will be looking for stage wins and Bryan Coquard will go for glory in the sprints in what will be his debut Tour.
Team Europcar have finalized their Tour de France roster and as it has been the case for the last few years, Pierre Rolland and Thomas Voeckler will go into the French race as the team leaders. With the inclusion of Bryan Coquard, however, the team will have a new focus as well as they will now have focus on the bunch sprints as well.
Rolland is one of the big question marks for the Tour as he is the only rider who will target the GC in both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour. In Italy, he did his best ever three-week race and finished fourth overall after a very aggressive performance. Since then, he has only done the French road race championships which he failed to finish. If he is too fatigued to targets the GC, he may target stage wins or the mountains jersey.
Voeckler goes into the race with the aim of repeating his success of the 2011 and 2012 editions of the race and leave behind a disappointing performance in last year's event. Three years ago he finished fourth overall after having worn the yellow jersey for most of the race and in 2012 he won two stages and the mountains jersey. This year he has been set back by a broken collarbone and hasn't looked like his usual strong self but he put in a great ride in yesterday's French road race championships.
For Coquard, it has always been the plan to make his Tour de France debut in 2014 and the Frenchman is looking forward to test himself against the best sprinters in the world. With 6 wins, he had a fantastic first professional season and this year he has already added another 5 victories to his palmares.
Surprisingly, there was no room for his lead-out man Jimmy Engoulvent who had been signed to guide the youngster in the hectic finales. Instead, he will have to count on Yohann Gene and Kevin Reza who finished third in the French road race championships, in the bunch kicks.
The team is completed by perennial attacker Cyril Gautier who has been stronger than ever in 2014, Perrig Quemeneur who rode an exceptional Giro d'Italia, Yukiya Arashiro who shone in the Ardennes classics, and Alexandre Pichot who is one of the team's best riders for the cobbles.
Team Europcar for the Tour de France:
Pierre Rolland, Thomas Voeckler, Bryan Coquard, Yohann Gene, Yukiya Arashiro, Perrig Quemeneur, Kevin Reza, Alexandre Pichot and Cyril Gautier
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