News shorts: Orica-GreenEdge want Critérium du Dauphiné stage wins
Frank leads IAM Cycling at the Dauphine, Bretagne-Séché Environnement confirm three more for Tour de France
Orica-GreenEdge will go stage hunting at the Critérium du Dauphiné from Sunday while considering the performances of several riders on its Tour de France long list.
"If you check the course from the Dauphiné it's a really hard one," sport director Laurenzo Lapage said. "It's important for the team to come out strong and healthy for the Tour De France and coming home with a stage win is the main goal.
"The Dauphiné is important for all teams in their preparation for the Tour and having a team time trial in there makes it really interesting too. "
For the first time since 1980, the Dauphiné will feature a team time trial. An event that Orica-GreenEdge have asserted its dominance in as it displayed recently at the Giro d'Italia although road stages are the primary aim for the eight-stage race.
Adam and Simon Yates will be the team's GC options for the race with Simon showing his continuing development recently finishing fifth overall at Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco and sixth at the Tour de Romandie. Adam continues his return to racing since breaking a finger at the Vuelta Ciclista al Pais Vasco.
Stage 2 is one that will suit the sprinters and Orica-GreenEdge will be riding for Danish neo-pro Magnus Cort but Lapage isn't expecting any of the eight stages to be straight forward days in the saddle.
"I expect a hard race with a lot of changes every day," Lapage added. "Controlling the race on this course and these roads will not be simple.
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"The first days have the potential to cost teams a lot of energy and how the different outfits commit to that could prove critical the last days if they are riding for an overall contender.
"In terms of stage wins, if there is a chance at a bunch sprint we will look to Magnus Cort, and as the stages begin to get harder we have Simon Gerrans and Adam and Simon Yates to play around with."
Orica-GreenEdge for the Criterium de Dauphine: Magnus Cort, Simon Gerrans, Daryl Impey, Jens Keukeleire, Christian Meier, Ivan Santaromita, Adam Yates and Simon Yates.
Bretagne-Séché Environnement confirm three more in Tour de France team
Having announced Pierrick Fédrigo, Eduardo Sepulveda and Anthony Delaplace as its first three riders for the 2015 Tour de France, Bretagne-Séché Environnement have named three more riders for July's race, confirming that Brice Feillu, Arnaud Gérard and Florian Vachon will line up in Utrecht on July 4.
Feillu, who turns 30 on the final day of the Tour, will make his fifth appearance at the race following on from his 16th place overall last year.
"I am pleased to be selected for the Tour, one month before the grand depart," Feillu explained. "I know what I need to do to get there in the necessary condition, not necessarily one hundred percent, but close. My 16th place last year does not necessarily put pressure on myself. Of course, I dream to do better. But even so, I can also be called to support Eduardo (Sepulveda) if better placed overall. I can also focus on a few stages..."
Arnaud Gérard and Florian Vachon, both 30, are two important riders for the team explained the manager Emmanuel Hubert.
"Arnaud has grand tour experience and now, at 30, he has become an essential part of the team with his vision of the race and ability to predict when we need to look after our protected riders. Although he was a little lacking in results from the beginning of season, he is one of our pillars," Hubert said of Gérard.
"He [Vachon] started his season 2015 below his normal level but in the last few weeks, we feel that Florian is getting stronger. He has increasingly been at the front since late April, and I want to believe that his first Tour de France last year gave him a level of form and a trust he did not previously have," Hubert said. "He also remains our road captain and the privileged interlocutor with staff. He could play his personal card on the hilly stages of the race."
The three remaining places for the Tour will be decided following the French national championships on June 28 with Frédéric Brun, Romain Feillu, Armindo Fonseca, Florian Guillou, Yauheni Hutarovich, Christophe Laborie and Pierre-Luc Périchon all in contention for the places.
Frank to lead IAM Cycling at Critérium du Dauphiné
Fresh from a reconnaissance of the Pyrenean Tour de France stages and stint at altitude, Mathias Frank will lead IAM Cycling at the Critérium du Dauphiné to further acquaint himself with climbs that will feature in the grand tour next month and test himself against the likes of Chris Froome and Vincenzo Nibali.
"The Dauphiné is a race of huge renown," sport director Rik Verbrugghe said. "The teams at the race are of course still preparing for the Tour de France, but it is also a real objective in itself."
For Verbrugghe, the Dauphiné is also a key dress rehearsal before the Tour de France.
"After the race, we will stay on three more days in the area to see parts of the Tour that we will not race in the Dauphiné, and acquaint ourselves with the new sections. Definitely being able to race large sections of up-coming Tour stages will be a great test," Verbrugghe said. "Personally, I am looking forward to seeing how IAM Cycling does in the team time trial. When we understand that the overall level of competition will be very high at the Dauphiné, we know that this is an opportunity for our riders to show what they can do."
After being forced to abandon the Tour of Belgium, Matthias Brändle will make his return to racing with the team.
IAM Cycling for Critérium du Dauphiné: Stef Clement, Matthias Brändle, Mathias Frank, Reto Hollenstein, Jarlinson Pantano, David Tanner, Jonas Van Genechten and Marcel Wyss.
