Quick Step has become the latest team to announce its nine-rider line up for next month’s Tour de France, aiming to challenge in all areas of the race. Although the Belgian team doesn’t possess an overall contender for the three-week race, it has riders that can win over virtually any terrain.
"We have a very competitive team for the Tour de France, that will be able to challenge everyone in every situation," said the team’s sports director Wilfried Peeters. "We will try to race aggressively just like we did last year. The first week of the competition is very interesting. Some of the arrivals perfectly fit the characteristics of our riders.”
With the team’s big star Tom Boonen forced to sit out last year’s Tour with a knee injury, the team’s two French riders, Sylvain Chavanel and Jérôme Pineau, lit up the race in the first week. Chavanel took two stage victories, taking the yellow jersey both times, while Pineau wore the polka-dot mountains jersey for several days, before a crash took him out of contention.
“Generally speaking anyway the Tour, throughout the three weeks, always offers good chances to shine for riders who attack like Chavanel, Pineau, [Dries] Devenyns and [Niki] Terpstra,” Peeters explained. “We will try to keep up with those who break away from the peloton, and we'll do everything we can to win a stage, this being our main goal for the race.”
Current Dutch champion Terpstra, along with Chavanel, was one of the most aggressive riders in the spring Classics, before a freak gust of wind caused him to crash out of the time trial stage of the Driedaagse De Panne with a broken collarbone. He has since returned to take sixth in the Tour of Belgium and second in last week’s Ster ZLM Toer.
As well as the opportunists though, Quick Step has a number of real contenders for the sprint stages, who have taken Tour stages in the past.
“We will also have riders like Boonen, [Gerald] Ciolek and [Gert] Steegmans in our team, who will be able to try and win sprints should the occasion arise,” said Peeters. “They will also try different winning solutions in other circumstances.”
The team will also have Kevin De Weert for the overall classification; while he is not expected to challenge for the podium, the 29-year-old will be looking to go better than his 18th place in 2010.
“The team will support De Weert in any case in the most difficult stages, and whenever necessary,” Peeters said. “[Addy] Engels will be the one to support De Weert mainly, being a rider with great experience. De Weert's main objective will be to try and further improve his placement compared to his last Tour de France.
“We have an expert and motivated team in general,” Peeters concluded, “with everyone being well-aware of their role and tasks. We start this Tour de France in the best possible conditions, both physically and mentally."
Quick Step team for the Tour de France:
Tom Boonen, Sylvain Chavanel, Gerald Ciolek, Kevin De Weert, Dries Devenyns, Addy Engels, Jérôme Pineau, Gert Steegmans and Niki Terpstra