On Thursday 25 February Team Stölting Service Group was launched in Düsseldorf, Germany, the host city to the Grand Départ of the 2017 Tour de France. Below are some quotes from the day:

FABIAN WEGMANN

“You can feel the awakening in German cycling, and we have the talented riders. This is exactly the right time to get on board and be a part of it. I can see a lot of potential and I hope that things will continue this way.”

“I’m looking forward to Flèche Wallonne in particular, we’ve just been invited to this WorldTour race. I almost won it once, when I was caught 300m from the finish; it would be a dream to be up there again. That’s what I’m working towards, and I hope to be in top form there.”

LINUS GERDEMANN

“I want to win as many races as possible with the team. I think we’re all bursting to go, ready to race, and we’ll want to turn that into results sooner rather than later.”

CHRISTIAN GROSSE KREUL, TEAM MANAGER

“Team spirit is very important to us. We have several neo-pros, I’m a neo-pro myself as Team Manager. We’ve been handed a big challenge as a team and have gelled very well already. Shortly after it was certain that the team would go ahead we had a great team meeting in Gelsenkirchen, and you could feel it: these guys aren’t just a couple of riders, but really a team! That’s why I’m confident that it won’t be long until we can celebrate our first successes.”