Seven riders, coming off the back of a race break, represent Tinkoff-Saxo at Tour de Wallonie in the search for stage wins and a return to race rhythm. With the race taking place in the highly undulating terrain of the Ardennes, the stages present the puncheurs with opportunities to create a difference. 
 
Tinkoff-Saxo is set to embark on this year’s five stage Tour de Wallonie from July 25thto 29th. Team sports director Lars Michaelsen tells that the squad aims to get back into race shape after a stint at the team’s altitude training camp in Livigno.
 
“It’s a race over five days, which suits the puncheurs of the peloton very well. The GC will probably come down to bonus seconds or time taken in a successful breakaway. I expect that we will see gaps and fragmentation in the bunch on several stages, as the terrain is demanding, which means that it’ll be crucial to stay well-positioned throughout the entire race. Our ambition is to get back into race shape with this squad, as the last races they did were the National Championships in June”, says Lars Michaelsen.

Tinkoff-Saxo lines up Matti Breschel, Pavel Brutt, Nikolay Trusov, Jay McCarthy, Chris Juul-Jensen, Michael Mørkøv and Juraj Sagan.
 
“The guys have been a month away from racing, in the meantime they’ve trained at altitude to prepare for the second part of the season. They need to get back into rhythm, something that is especially important for Breschel, as he even had to skip the nationals. Many of the guys have to be ready for Tour of Denmark and other concurrent races. We are going to take it day by day but we hope to get a rider into the top ten of the GC, while we aim for a stage win”, adds Lars Michaelsen.
 
Tour de Wallonie consists of five stages in the hilly terrain known from the Ardennes Classics. According to Lars Michaelsen, the parcours will make for a challenging race.
 
“I think that the first stage will be very important, the profile looks like a saw blade and it will be vital to ride the race from the front. Chris Juul has shown strength and he could potentially do very well if he continues in the same manner as previously. Meanwhile we also have fast guys in the likes of Trusov and McCarthy. The third stage from Bastogne to Namur features an uphill finish on the cobbled roads up to the Citadel, where we’ve seen before that the strongest will do an all out effort to create a selection. The squad is motivated to race and it will be exciting to see how it all pans out”, finishes Lars Michaelsen.