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Adam and Simon Yates both headed to Tour de France: Daily News Digest

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Welcome to your Daily News Digest. Here’s what’s happening today:

Mitchelton-Scott will have both Adam and Simon Yates for the upcoming Tour de France, Ineos names Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal ‘joint leaders’ for the Tour, UAE-Team Emirates extends California winner Tadej Pogacar. Those stories and more in today’s Daily News Digest.

Story of the Day: Simon Yates to ride for Adam Yates at upcoming Tour

Mitchelton-Scott will send both Adam and Simon Yates to the upcoming Tour de France with the former leading the team’s general classification campaign.

Adam Yates has finished as highly as fourth at the Tour de France (in 2016), and while his 2018 Tour campaign did not go according to plan, he heads into this year’s race on the heels of a strong spring. Although he pulled out of the Critérium du Dauphiné on the final stage while sitting second overall due to illness, he expects to be ready for the Tour.

Adam Yates in yellow with his Mitchelton-Scott teammates at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Photo: ©kramon

“After Dauphiné I’ve managed to come back around pretty quick, back into full training and feeling good so hopefully it was just a minor bump,” he said.

2018 Vuelta a España winner Simon Yates will join his brother’s Tour support squad after riding the Giro d’Italia, where he finished eighth.

“On a climbing front we will have Simon Yates in a super-domestique role,” said Mitchelton-Scott sports director Matt White. “His primary goal is to be there for his brother Adam and to return the favor from the Vuelta last year.”

25-year-old Australian Jack Haig will also be a key mountain domestique.

Luke Durbridge, Michael Hepburn, Matteo Trentin, Christopher Juul-Jensen, and Daryl Impey round out the roster for Mitchelton-Scott.

Socially Speaking

Romain Bardet (Ag2r La Mondiale) has been training hard enough ahead of the Tour that at least one if his rivals is getting Strava notifications.

Solid reply from Bardet in the comments, by the way.

Race Radio

Ineos names Thomas and Bernal ‘joint leaders’ of Tour squad

Ineos has unveiled its starting eight for the Tour de France, notably naming Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal as joint leaders.

“After the success of last year, we have decided to come into the race with joint leaders. Geraint and Egan are both in great form,” team principal Dave Brailsford said in the Ineos press release. “They trust each other and we believe that this approach will best suit us as a Team by giving us the greatest flexibility on the road and the best possible chance of success.”

Egan Bernal in yellow at the Tour de Suisse. Photo: VK/PN/Cor Vos © 2019

Thomas may be the Tour’s defending champion, but Bernal is a rising star enjoying a strong season. Thomas’s Tour preparation was derailed when he crashed out of the Tour de Suisse; Bernal went on to win the race.

Ineos, the team that has won six of the past seven Tours de France, went for continuity with the support squad for Thomas and Bernal—Jonathan Castroviejo, Michal Kwiatkowski, Gianni Moscon, Wout Poels, and Luke Rowe were all part of the winning team in 2018. Dylan van Baarle, fresh off a stage win at the Critérium du Dauphiné, will be the only 2019 Tour starter for the team that wasn’t part of the 2018 squad.

Kelderman and Matthews to lead Sunweb at Tour

Sunweb’s Tour de France squad will feature Michael Matthews and Wilco Kelderman as leaders following the team’s shift in objectives after Tom Dumoulin was ruled out with a knee injury.

“This year our focus at the Tour de France will be to go for stage success throughout the race,” said sports director Aike Visbeek. “We have been in this situation before when we have had to change from a GC goal to focusing on stage results and I am confident we can do well again.”

Matthews will give the team a contender for a variety of stage profiles. The 28-year-old Australian won the points classification in 2017. Kelderman and veteran Nicolas Roche will give the team options for the more mountainous stages.

Completing the Tour lineup are Soren Kragh Andersen, Nikias Arndt, Cees Bol, Lennard Kämna, and Chad Haga, who won the final stage of this year’s Giro d’Italia. The Tour return will give the 30-year-old American a chance to continue his short but sweet post-stage summaries on Twitter.

Trek-Segafredo names Tour team to back Richie Porte

Trek-Segafredo has announced its Tour de France roster with Richie Porte set to lead the way for the team in July.

“I think what we have done well going into this race is controlling the things we can control and not getting distracted by how things have gone so far this season,” Porte said in the team’s press release. “In a lot of ways I feel a lot less pressure than in past years and am very motivated to fight hard over the three weeks.”

Richie Porte on Willunga Hill at the 2019 Tour Down Under. Photo: Dario Belingheri/Cor Vos © 2019

Surrounding the 34-year-old Australian will be the balanced lineup of Julien Bernard, Giulio Ciccone, Koen de Kort, Fabio Felline, Bauke Mollema, Toms Skujins, and Jasper Stuyven.

Ineos names Fran Millar CEO

Team Ineos has named Fran Millar to a new position of CEO. Millar moves into the role from a previous position as the team’s Director of Business Operations. She has been a part of the Sky/Ineos organization since it started 10 years ago.

“Fran has been with the team from the very beginning and during this time she has played a key role in our successes and gained considerable experience in all areas of the team,” said Dave Brailsford, who remains team principal. “She is perfectly placed to take on this new position.”

UAE-Team Emirates extends California winner Pogacar

Up-and-comer Tadej Pogacar has signed a lengthy contract extension that will keep him at UAE-Team Emirates through 2023.

The 20-year-old Slovenian, whose under-23 results turned heads when he was still a teenager, joined the UAE squad for this season and has quickly impressed. He started the year with a win at the Volta ao Algarve, and went on to win the recent Amgen Tour of California. He will now ride on with the team for four more years.

Tadej Pogacar wins the sixth stage of the Amgen Tour of California. Photo: Brian Hodes/Cor Vos © 2019

“We wanted to build around a strong team of youngsters with potential to grow and form a strong base for the coming years,” said UAE-Team Emirates CEO Mauro Gianetti. “Pogacar is without a doubt one of these.”

Zakarin headlines Katusha-Alpecin Tour lineup

Ilnur Zakarin will make his third career Tour de France start this July at the helm of the Katusha-Alpecin squad. The 29-year-old Russian finished in the top 10 overall in his most recent Tour appearance in 2018, and won a stage in his Tour debut in 2016.

Rounding out the Katusha roster for the Tour are Jens Debusschere, Alex Dowsett, José Goncalves, Marco Haller, Nils Politt, Rick Zabel, and Mads Würtz Schmidt.

Garrison and Neben take American time trial titles

An up-and-coming youngster and a decorated veteran scored the time trial titles at the USPro national championships on Thursday.

21-year-old Ian Garrison (Hagens Berman Axeon) rode to the men’s win ahead of Neilson Powless (Jumbo-Visma) and George Simpson (Elevate-KHS) for an all 25-and-younger podium. In the women’s race, 44-year-old Amber Neben (Cogeas-Mettler) stormed to her third straight national TT title. Chloe Dygert (Sho-Air Twenty20) and Leah Thomas (Bigla) rounded out the podium.

Ganna wins close battle for Italian TT title

Filippo Ganna (Ineos) won the Italian national time trial championship by the slimmest of margins on Friday. The 22-year-old topped Alberto Bettiol (EF Education) against the clock by less than a second, with both riders putting in a time of 41:22 on the 34.3-kilometer course.

Alessandro De Marchi (CCC) took third.

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Feature Image: Adam Yates on stage 11 of the 2018 Tour de France. Photo: ©kramon

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