Tour roster unveilings, Evenepoel returns home: Daily News Digest
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Hello again, CyclingTips readers.
We dive into the new week with a deluge of Tour de France roster announcements confirming big names from across the peloton for the upcoming race.
Julian Alaphilippe and Sam Bennett will lead the way for Deceuninck-Quick-Step. Trek-Segafredo will look to Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema as co-leaders. Both Emanuel Buchmann and Max Schachmann will start the race despite recent injuries, which will be welcome news for German fans and fans of Bora-Hansgrohe generally.
In other news, Remco Evenepoel is home from the hospital a little over a week after his crash at Il Lombardia. The young Belgian star has a long road of recovery ahead but a return home is a big step in that direction.
Read on for more …
Dane Cash
News Editor
What’s news
| Alaphilippe and Bennett will lead the way for Deceuninck-Quick-Step at the Tour
Deceuninck-Quick-Step announced its Tour de France selection on Monday with Julian Alaphilippe and Sam Bennett highlighting the squad.
For Bennett, the Tour appearance will be his third, but perhaps the first time he has made the start among the very top favorites for the bunch sprints. Alaphilippe, meanwhile, will lead his team on the hillier stages and in the mountains.
In addition to Alaphilippe and Bennett, the team will have Michael Morkov, Kasper Asgreen, Zdenek Stybar, Bob Jungels, Dries Devenyns, and Tim Declercq.
| López to lead Astana at the Tour, Houle selected
Astana’s Tour de France squad is built around the GC hopes of Miguel Ángel López, who will be making his debut in the race after racking up six Grand Tour starts between the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta a España so far in his career.
Notably, Astana’s roster includes Hugo Houle, who pulled out of a planned start at Il Lombardia earlier this month after a positive COVID-19 test. According to Cyclingnews, Houle has since registered two negative tests, as well as testing negative for anti-bodies.
Also lining up at the Tour for Astana will be Alexey Lutsenko, Luis León Sánchez, Ion Izagirre, Gorka Izagirre, Omar Fraile, and Harold Tejada.
| Bora confirms Buchmann will start the Tour de France
Bora-Hansgrohe confirmed on Monday that 2019 Tour de France fourth-place finisher Emanuel Buchmann will indeed make the start this year despite crashing heavily at the Critérium du Dauphiné.
Gregor Mühlberger, who went down in the same crash, will also make the start and so too will Max Schachmann, who fractured his collarbone in a collision with a car at Il Lombardia.
| Porte and Mollema announced as co-leaders for Trek-Segafredo’s Tour team
Trek-Segafredo has unveiled its Tour de France lineup with Richie Porte and Bauke Mollema named as co-leaders for the squad.
“The objective of our team is to go for the GC with Bauke Mollema and Richie Porte. But our other main goal is to win one or more stages,” sports director Kim Andersen said. “We will try to keep at least one of the captains up there for GC, and otherwise go full for stage wins.”
Also making the selection are Niklas Eg, Kenny Elissonde, Mads Pedersen, Toms Skujins, Jasper Stuyven, and Edward Theuns.
| UAE-Team Emirates confirms Pogacar, Aru, and Kristoff for the Tour
UAE-Team Emirates has also announced its Tour selection, confirming Tadej Pogacar, Fabio Aru, and Alexander Kristoff for the race.
Rounding out the roster are Davide Formolo, David de la Cruz, Jan Polanc, Vegard Stake Laengen, and Marco Marcato.
| Van der Breggen, Küng take European TT titles
Anna van der Breggen and Stefan Küng powered to European time trial titles on Monday in Plouay.
Van der Breggen completed the 25.6-kilometer course 31 seconds faster than defending champ Ellen van Dijk to win the women’s race, with Marlen Reusser rounding out the podium in third.
Küng was 17 seconds faster than Remi Cavagna in the men’s race. Victor Campenaerts took third on the day, 21 seconds down.
| Evenepoel returns home
Remco Evenepoel may not have been able to defend his title at the aforementioned European time trial championships on Monday, but he is, at least, back home now a little over a week after the crash at Il Lombardia that left him with a broken pelvis and other injuries.
The 20-year-old Belgian spent several days in the hospital, first in Italy then at a hospital in Belgium, following his crash. He will now focus on recovering at home as he looks towards 2021.
| Roval trickles the Alpinist down to a CL level
Roval recently revealed its new Rapide and Alpinist CLX carbon disc-specific road wheels. You know, the ones that are for use with tubes-only. And now the Specialized-owned wheel company has released a cheaper “CL” version of the lightweight Alpinist wheel.
The new Alpinist CL share the same 33 mm deep and 21 mm internal width carbon rim as the Alpinist CLX. Likewise, the T-head Aerolite spokes are the same. What changes is the move to a DT Swiss 350 hub which sees the price drop substantially to US$1,600. They’re claimed to weigh 1,365 g for the pair, that’s 117 g more than the CLX.
Roval will continue to sell the CL50 as its mid-price aftermarket aero option. Confusingly the new Rapide CL remains an OE-only option.
| Happy birthday to …
Roger De Vlaeminck celebrates his 73rd birthday on August 24. The Belgian Classics star is one of the few cyclists in history to have won all five Monuments, with multiple career victories at all three of Paris-Roubaix, Milan-San Remo, and Il Lombardia.
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SUBSCRIBE TO THE DAILY NEWS DIGEST PODCASTToday’s feature image of Roger De Vlaeminck winning Milan-San Remo comes from Cor Vos.
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