Irish cyclist Nicholas Roche has been confirmed as part of Team Subweb for the upcoming Tour de France.
The son of the 1987 winner Stephen Roche, has been named in the squad along with Dane Søren Kragh Andersen, German Nikias Arndt, Cees Bol from the Netherlands, American Chad Haga, Lennard Kämna from Germany, as well as Dutchman Wilco Kelderman, and Australian Michael Matthews.
Its the first time the 34-year-old has competed in the competition since 2017, with his best finish coming in 2012 when he ended the grueling race in 12th place on General Classification
The team's Tour de France coach Aike Visbeek said, "this year our focus at the Tour de France will be to go for stage success throughout the race.
"We have been in this situation before when we have had to change from a GC (General Classification) goal to focusing on stage results and I am confident we can do well again.
“We’ll have opportunities for good results with Michael in the sprint stages and reduced bunch sprints. Nikias will be our captain and with Giro stage winner Chad, we bring extra power for the both the TTT and TT. With Wilco, Nicholas, and Søren we aim for opportunities in the more difficult hilly and mountain stages.”
Last year's race was won by Geraint Thomas who took victory with a minute and 51 seconds to space for Team Sky, whose rider has won the Grand Tour in six of the last seven years.
This year's Tour de France begins in Brussels on July 6th and ends on July 28th with the traditional finish up Paris' Champs-Élysées.
It is the 106th running of the race and the 100th anniversary of the traditional leader's yellow jersey. To coincide with the centenary celebrations there will be 20 uniquely designed yellow jerseys to be worn throughout the Tour de France.
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