Preview Vuelta a España, Tour of Denmark and EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg
The last Grand Tour of the year is about to begin. The Vuelta a España starts this Saturday with a team time trial in Torrevieja. Leader Primoz Roglic will have backup leaders Steven Kruijswijk and George Bennett by his side in his hunt for the overall victory.
We’re also racing in Denmark and Germany the upcoming days.
Sports director Grischa Niermann: “This year, we’ve finished on the podium in the Giro and Tour. In the Vuelta, we’ve one big goal and that’s winning the race. Primoz is the team’s leader, while George and Steven are the backup leaders. With Tony Martin, Lennard Hofstede, Neilson Powless, Sepp Kuss and Robert Gesink we have strong supportive riders. Doing a strong team time trial will be key for having a good starting position in the GC battle, so that’s what we going for."
The Tour of Denmark started today. Jonas Vingegaard, stage winner in the Tour of Pologne, gets his own chance in his home country. Koen Bouwman is also going for a good GC finish in the six day stage race.
Sports director Frans Maassen: “We’re riding with five young riders and Tom Leezer is the race captain. Jonas and Koen can go for a good GC. Besides that, we want to try to win a stage. The course includes a time trial and tricky hilly stages with an open landscape, so maybe there’s a chance of echelons. The race finishes with a sprint stage in Frederiksberg.”
In the EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg this Sunday, riders like Mike Teunissen, Danny van Poppel and Timo Roosen are starting. The race is 216.7 kilometres and starts and finishes in Hamburg.
Sportive director Merijn Zeeman: “It’s a WorldTour classic with an interesting course because the peloton has to conquer the Waseberg three times in the final. The peloton often breaks up over it and a group with the best riders escapes. The sprint teams always try to close the gap, so it’s going to be a game of cat-and-mouse. With Mike, Danny and Timo, we have three riders we can expect to see in the final. I hope there’s going to be a small group with our riders, and we can get a nice result.”
Vuelta a España (24/08-16/09)
Primoz Roglic
Steven Kruijswijk
Robert Gesink
Sepp Kuss
George Bennett
Tony Martin
Neilson Powless
Lennard Hofstede
Tour of Denmark (21/08-25/08)
Jonas Vingegaard
Antwan Tolhoek
Tom Leezer
Amund Jansen
Koen Bouwan
Pascal Eenkhoorn
EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg (25/08)
Mike Teunissen
Timo Roosen
Jos van Emden
Floris De Tier
Danny van Poppel
Bert-Jan Lindeman
Paul Martens