Kazkah brothers Maxim and Valentin Iglinsky both tested positive for EPO a year ago while three riders from the team’s feeder Continental Tour outfit also failed dope tests.
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Paris-Roubaix victor John Degenkolb claims he is feeling no more pressure ahead of the Tour de France now that his Giant-Alpecin team have dropped sprint king Marcel Kittel.
We caught up with team sponsors Etixx Sports Nutrition to find out the best products to use during the tour, here are some of our picks. “And I have the experience now, and this is the moment to race the Tour”. Only two riders – Bernard Hinault with 28 and Eddy Merckx with 34 – accumulated more.
Peter Sagan may have won the green jersey the last three years but the Slovak insists he is happy to play a support role for Contador at the Tour this year.
Rowe is one of five Britons in the Team Sky squad which is geared around Froome reclaiming the yellow jersey he won in 2013.
Organizers have drastically reduced the distance of time trials to ensure the Tour remains open until the final Alpine stage featuring the punishing climb to the ski resort.
The undisputed leader of BMC since the retirement of Cadel Evans, Van Garderen, at 26, is the oldest in this section. Van Garderen enjoyed a solid buildup to the Tour that culminated with a runner-up finish at the Ctritérium du Dauphiné behind Froome. He has never managed to put together a full three weeks at the Tour, however, with a bad day or two proving costly.
“I normally base my season around being good in July, so I’ve done everything right”, Cavendish said. People from all over the world will flock to the hills and flatlands of France to see the Tour de France, one of the world’s greatest annual sporting spectacles.
Past year he became the first South American to win the Tour of Italy, or Giro d’Italia, the second most prestigious stage race after the Tour.
Time trialists are often slightly heavier than all terrain and climbers, who perform best in mountainous stages.
The Yates twins, Simon and Adam, take part in their first Tour together and British cycling fans have been getting awfully excited about the pair. As the defending champ past year, he was forced out during the fifth stage after two falls. “You have Froome, Contador, Quintana, Nibali, and then there are a number of other ones like Tejay van Garderen, Valverde maybe”. Knowing his character, I knew it would be possible for him to recover.
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“That first week really is going to be crucial, the first nine days actually until we get up in the mountains on stage 10”, Froome said. Now he just needs to avoid pitfalls and bad luck that can hit the racers in the early stages, derailing their race before it gets started. Finally the main man at one of the bigger teams, the Portuguese national champion has produced some impressive results – winning the Tour de Suisse last year and finishing third behind Froome and Van Garderen at the 2015 Dauphine – but a lack of top-line victories this year counts against him. Norwegian Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) might be the most powerful sprinter in the field but after a superb spring he hasn’t been quite as sharp of late, while German stalwart Andre Greipel (Lotto-Soudal) might be as quick as he used to be.
