Team Saxo-Tinkoff have named the nine riders who will be taking part in the final Grand Tour of the year – the Vuelta a España which runs from August 24 to September 15. The squad comprises: Danes Chris Anker Sørensen, Nicki Sørensen and Michael Mørkøv, Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Matteo Tosatto (Italy), Rafal Majka (Poland), Evgeny Petrov (Russia), Oliver Zaugg (Switzerland) and Ireland’s Nicolas Roche.
Sport Director Tristan Hoffman comments on the selection: ‘We are entering this year’s Vuelta a España with a very strong and versatile team, which will give us quite some cards to play throughout the three weeks of racing. Therefore we are also focusing on finishing the race with one of our riders well inside the top-ten, and if things play into our hands maybe even having two of our riders up there. With this group of riders I definitely believe it is possible, even though we know the competition will be fierce… In Roman, Nicolas, Rafal and Chris we have four potential GC riders, with three of them having top-ten finishes in Grand Tours before and Chris finishing just outside a couple of times. They all feel strong before the race, and this naturally gives us some great possibilities in hand.’
Hoffman continued: ‘Going into the Vuelta I see Roman as the natural leader of the team. He has had a fantastic season so far and still feels motivated and ready, but Rafal, Nicolas and Chris will also have the support of the team, and then we will see how the race develops and adjust accordingly. I expect a great race, and I’m sure we will make a significant impact on the Vuelta.’
This year’s Vuelta a España, which covers a total of 3,319.1km, starts with a team time trial from Vilanova de Arousa to Sanxenxo on Saturday August 24 and concludes, as is tradition, in Madrid three weeks later.
For further details on the Vuelta a España see lavuelta.com
