The Vacansoleil DCM team announced their line-up and strategy for this year’s Grande Boucle yesterday.

The strategy chosen by the team is an interesting one as it seeks to apply a three-pronged approach, having selected three sprinters, three climbers and three attacking riders to cover as many aspects of the race as possible.

The line-up contains five Dutch riders: Wout Poels, Johnny Hoogerland, Lieuwe Westra and the Van Poppel brothers Boy and Danny.

Also included in the roster is the Belgian Thomas de Gendt who finished third in the Giro d’Italia last year, alongside his compatriot Kris Boeckmans. The Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha, winner of a stage in the 2010 edition of the Tour and Uzbek national champion Sergey Lagutin make up the numbers.

“We’re expecting that these nine selected riders will do justice to the characteristic that Vacansoleil-DCM is best known for: the Dutch World Tour-team has always been about a surprising, passionate and attractive style of racing,” said the team in a press statement on its website announcing the line-up. “That is exactly how the squad hopes to pick up a stage win in France’s national tour. This does not mean that they’ll be forgetting all about the GC.

“Wout Poels has found his habitual level after his serious crash in last year’s Tour and has already been rubbing shoulders with the world’s top riders. His third place finish in the 2012 Giro d’Italia was definitely proof of the fact that Thomas De Gendt has what it takes to make an excellent GC contender.”

The biggest surprise in the team is the presence of Danny van Poppel, who is just 19 years-old and will be the youngest rider in the Tour since World War II. He will turn 20 on July 26, less than a week after the race ends.

“Danny van Poppel making the team is probably the biggest surprise for outsiders," directeur sportif Aart Vierhouten said. “I have witnessed every time that when he rises through the ranks it does not affect him much at all. That has proven to be the case now that he’s joined the pros where he has already made it up to the podium quite a few times. Nineteen is young, but luckily that is not a problem in the Tour today. The young kids they are able to connect, where this was impossible ten years ago.”

Vacansoleil-DCM line-up for Tour de France:

Kris Boeckmans, Juan Antonio Flecha, Thomas De Gendt, Johnny Hoogerland, Sergey Lagutin, Wout Poels, Boy van Poppel, Danny van Poppel, Lieuwe Westra.