Ef ultimate break reviews 20218/13/2023 Things surely can’t go worse than last year’s anonymous performance. Whether Cavendish achieves it or not will likely define Astana Qazaqstan’s race.Īlexey Lutsenko will be the team’s GC man, looking to improve on his seventh and eighth place finishes in 20. The 38-year-old is just as determined as day one, even if the super-powered lead-out and devastating acceleration of his heyday are not quite there. Taking a 35th Tour de France stage win to move above Eddy Merckx in the all-time list would be a fairytale achievement for Cavendish, fourteen years since his first triumph. There ought to be more opportunities for sprint success at the Tour than the Giro, but an even higher level of rivals too. If the Giro d’Italia is anything to go by, there will be times the “Manx Missile” is surfing other lead-out trains in the final kilometres too.Ĭavendish took a hard-fought stage win in Rome after fighting over the mountains. Twelve months ago, few would have expected his partner to be the Kazakhstani boys in blue but the team has a new jersey and new ambitions in the sprints.Ĭees Bol will serve as a guiding light in the hectic bunch sprint finales. It’s the last dance for Mark Cavendish, a final Tour de France before retiring, one more chance to add to his prolific tally of stage wins. Mark Cavendish won the final stage of the Giro d'Italia in Rome. Team leaders: Mark Cavendish, Alexey Lutsenko.His paymasters would no doubt love a repeat of his Tour stage brace from 2020. New to the team this season, Søren Kragh Andersen could also threaten on rolling breakaway days. There ought to be more victories this time round and a clearer shot at the green jersey, given Wout van Aert’s uncertainty about finishing the Tour due to the forthcoming birth of his second child. Philipsen broke his Tour duck with sprint wins in Carcassonne and on the Champs-Elysées last year. In a closely-matched field of fast men, he’s a nose ahead of the rest. The Belgian sprinter has six wins in the bag this year, including a recent one outgunning rival Fabio Jakobsen at the Baloise Belgium Tour. He will be hoping for another stage win or spell in the yellow jersey to match his 2021 performance.Īdditionally, Van der Poel can be an ultimate domestique deluxe and lead-out supporter for Philipsen. He was unusually off colour at last year’s Tour but after a lighter racing schedule this time round, missing out on the Giro d'Italia, we can expect a different Van der Poel. The flying Dutchman was the man of the spring with his Milan-San Remo and Paris-Roubaix triumphs. In Jasper Philipsen and Mathieu van der Poel, they have two of the sport’s stars and prime candidates for stage wins. (Image credit: Getty)Īlpecin-Deceuninck only joined the WorldTour this season but they’ve been outperforming most top-tier teams for years, including in their two previous Tour de France performances. Mathieu van der Poel won the Belgium Tour in emphatic fashion. Team leaders: Jasper Philipsen, Mathieu van der Poel.A triumph in the race’s final week, on a stage close to their Alpine base in Chambéry, would send them into raptures. In the French team’s 30th Tour appearance, stage wins will not be sacrificed in the name of GC ambitions. The Austrian climber shone at the Tour de Suisse, winning a stage. Giro d'Italia stage winner Aurélien Paret-Peintre doubles up while there is a Tour debut for former junior world champion Felix Gall. The 27-year-old will be shepherded in the winds and on the flat by Belgian bodyguard Oliver Naesen but Greg Van Avermaet, who was not selected for a final Tour de France ride before he retires. The man from Perth was sixth at the Tour Down Under and finished third at June’s Critérium du Dauphiné, coming into form at the right time. He abandoned before stage 10 with a torn glute. Last year’s Tour was crash-addled, most damagingly for his ambitions on the cobbled stage to Arenberg where he dropped over three minutes to his fellow contenders. It’s a big test for Ben O’Connor as he seeks to back-up his breakthrough fourth place from 2021. Ben O'Connor in action at the Dauphine (Image credit: Getty)
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