The 2014 Tour de France winner Vincenzo Nibali said he’s unsure of his condition after finishing second in the Giro d’Italia. Peter Sagan wants a seventh green jersey. Greg Van Avermaet has stage 3 in mind. 176 riders from 30 nations form the peloton of the 106th Tour de France.
Vincenzo Nibali will draw a plan after stage 6
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) took a low profile as he expressed his ambitions in front of the media at the headquarters at Brussels’ Expo. “The first week of the Tour suits the fast riders, so we’ll support Sonny Colbrelli”, the Italian stated. “As for myself, I’ll evaluate the situation after La Planche des belles filles, which is the only climb of the first week. It’ll be time to talk tactics and consider the various hierarchies by knowing a bit more about our rivals, even though we are already aware of Ineos having the strongest team here. I don’t know if I have recovered from the Giro. I rode the national championship last weekend and I didn’t go particularly well. Anyway, the third week of the Tour is the hardest and it’ll be the most important for all GC contenders.”
Peter Sagan is back for a seventh green jersey
German outfit Bora-Hansgrohe shows up at the Tour de France with the confidence-booster number of 33 victories already collected this season, just as many as in total last year. Newly crowned national champions, Germany’s Maximilian Schachmann and Austria’s Patrick Konrad, add more depth to Peter Sagan’s entourage. The triple world champion confirmed he’s on the hunt for a seventh green jersey in Paris that would make him the sole recordman of victories in the points classification. “First, I have to finish the Tour”, the Slovakian hinted. “It’s true that Max [Schachmann] brings a big engine in our team. I’m very happy with Bora-Hansgrohe improving every year. It’s pretty nice to be here in Belgium for the Tour, I enjoy the weather more than during the Spring classics campaign. I also started my first Tour in Belgium [in 2012 in Liège]. I was a normal rider then. I wasn’t part of the press conference, now I try to also enjoy this part of my job. Stage 1 will be on some roads of the Tour of Flanders but it’ll be a completely different race at the Tour. Lots of riders want to win the first stage. The competition is always very big in the first. I’ll try my best from day 1. To get the green jersey again is my big goal, that’s why I’m here.”
Greg Van Avermaet: “We have more opportunities for breakaways this year”
Formerly known as BMC, the CCC Team will take part in its tenth Tour de France, for the first time without any GC contender. “I’m really happy with the Grand Départ taking place in Brussels”, declared Greg Van Avermaet who held onto the yellow jersey for eight days after they won the team time trial last year. “Having the Muur [of Geraardsbergen] and the Bosberg on stage 1 and the team time trial in Belgium is great for me. The first ten days are very important. We can have a great Tour de France is we have a good start. With this team, we have more opportunities for breakaways. I have personally targeted and reckoned stage 3 to Epernay. It’s similar to the stages I’ve been close to winning in the past, like in Longwy two years ago.”
Statistics: The peloton of the 2019 Tour de France points to the north
30 nations are represented among the 176 starters of the 2019 Tour de France. The four traditional cycling countries top the list: France (34), Belgium (21), Italy (15) and Spain (13). It’s the biggest number of Belgians in the past 25 years but for the first time since 2003, there’s no rider from Luxemburg. All continents are in contention. There have never been so many Scandinavians before: 15. 9 is a record for Denmark, so is 6 for Norway that had a maximum of 4 in the past. Also inside the French contingent, there’s an increased number of “men from the north”, literally those from Normandy: 7. It’s unusual to see this region with the biggest number of riders. They are: Guillaume Martin (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie) Amaël Moinard and Anthony Delaplace (Arkéa-Samsic), Mikaël Chérel, Benoît Cosnefroy and Alexis Gougeard (AG2R-La Mondiale).
Jasper Philipsen, 21, is the youngest, Lars Bak, 39, is the oldest
The average age of the 176 riders is 29.23, slightly lower than the two previous editions (29.37). Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ), born on 29 May 1990, is the closest to that number. The youngest is Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates), 21, while Egan Bernal (Team Ineos), David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) and Lennard Kämna (Sunweb) are 22 year old. A total of 28 u26 riders are eligible for the white jersey of best young rider. The oldest rider is Lars Bak (Dimension Data), 39. He was born 100 days before world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar). Stephen Cummings (Dimension Data), 38, Amaël Moinard (Arkéa-Samsic) and William Bonnet (Groupama-FDJ), 37, follow them on the list. Valverde has the most starts at the Tour (11) but Moinard and Marcus Burghardt have the most finishes as they completed all 10 Tour de France they started. Dimension Data has the highest average age of all teams with 32. Sunweb and Jumbo-Visma are the youngest with an average of 27 year old.
33 newbies at the start
Two former winners are back: Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) who won the 2014 Tour de France and defending champion Geraint Thomas (Ineos). Among the 143 riders who already competed in the Tour de France, 33 have won at least one stage in the past. Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) and André Greipel (Arkéa-Samsic) top the ranking with 11 wins each. Tony Martin (Jumbo-Visma) and Nibali have five under their belt. The Tour de France is new to 33 riders. 8 of them have never taken part in any Grand Tour before: Frenchmen Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R-La Mondiale) and Paul Ourselin (Total Direct Energie), Cees Bol (Sunweb) from The Netherlands and Belgians Jasper Philipsen (UAE Team Emirates), Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma), Aimé De Gendt, Xandro Meurisse and Kevin van Melsen (Wanty-Groupe Gobert), the latter being aged 32!
Lucky numbers for Pinot and Nibali
Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ) got the bib number 51, which is considered the lucky one in the legend of the Tour de France since Eddy Merckx had it in 1969 on his first participation, so did Luis Ocaña in 1973, Bernard Thévenet in 1975 and Bernard Hinault in 1978. But only those four riders won the Tour with number 51 in 105 editions of the race. Nibali carries the number 41 just like in 2014.
