Poels looking to build on Tour de France; De Gendt still to prove himself in 2013
Vacansoleil-DCM has announced its 13-man pre-selection of riders for the Vuelta a España, which starts in Vilanova de Arousa, in the northwestern region of Galicia, on August 24th. The Dutch team, which will lose both of its title sponsors at the end of the season and has yet to announce replacements, will be looking to take its chances in the third Grand Tour of the year.
The riders will take on the race with the twin incentives of trying to attract new sponsors to the team, as well as with impressing other teams enough to get offered a contract elsewhere should the team be forced to fold.
The likely general classification riders will be Dutchman Wouter Poels, who finished an aggressive 28th in the Tour de France, and Belgian Thomas De Gendt, whose bid to convert his third place in last year’s Giro d’Italia into Tour success fell flat in the first mountain stages.
Among the teams pre-selection of six Dutchmen and three Belgians are Vacansoleil-DCM’s two Spanish riders Juan Antonio Flecha and Rafa Valls.
“The group of riders is very motivated and all riders have a strong motivation to start in this race,” explained directeur sportif Aart Vierhouten. “With, for example, De Gendt still wanting to show something in 2013, Poels looking forward to follow-up on his Tour de France, and Flecha eager to race to his hometown.
“For the team it is great to have Tomasz Marczynski back after a lot of injury I believe we are ready for a great race.”
Marczynski would be a likely third general classification rider, following his 13th place in the 2012 Vuelta, although he is not on the 13-rider list. The Polish rider is currently riding an aggressive - although as of yet fruitless - race at his home Tour.
While many of the pre-selected riders on the Vacansoleil-DCM list are veterans of several Grand Tours, young Dutchmen Wesley Kreder and Barry Markus could be set to make their debut in a three-week race.
Vacansoleil-DCM pre-selection for the Vuelta a España
Johnny Hoogerland, Wesley Kreder, Barry Markus, Wouter Mol, Wout Poels, Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands), Thomas De Gendt, Willem Wauters, Frederik Veuchelen (Belgium), Juan Antonio Flecha, Rafael Valls (Spain), Grega Bole (Slovenia) and Sergey Lagutin (Uzbekistan).