UAE Team Emirates has announced that the Tour de France team will support Tadej Pogañar.
When the Tour de France kicks off in Tuscany on 6/29, the team can boast the strongest climbing team in the race, with both 2023 podium finisher Adam Yates and another podium contender Juan Ayuso joining the lineup.
Yates, who recently won the Tour de Switzerland, and Tour de France debut Tan Ayuso, who won the Ituria Basque Country in the spring, will be joined by Tour de Switzerland runner・up Joan Almeida.Ayuso Racing for the first time in the Tour de France. Even more climbing support for Pogacar will be present in the form of Pavel Sivakov, a recruit from the Ineos Grenadier in 2024.
The team concludes with the flat man of Spanish domestic Marc Soler, Belgian puncheur Tim Wellens, and German classics expert Nils Politt.
Pogagnal, who was last in action in May when he dominated the Giro d'Italia with a 6-stage victory and a winning margin of 9:56, said he is "really excited" to return to the tour and added that preparations for the race are going well.
"It's my 5th time coming on tour and I'm really excited," he said. "We have worked really hard and prepared for 1 year as a team and we want everyone to see the exciting race for 3 weeks.
"It's also nice to go back to Italy again to start the tour. Obviously, I'm coming from there with good memories of the Giro, and thankfully I can say the preparation has worked very well since then so I took a little break after the Giro and have been completely focused on the tour for the past few weeks.
"We spent a lot of time together as group training at altitude and spent a lot of time in the saddle. I think we are in a really good place as a group and now we can't wait to start, we want to fight for victory and do a good show.
Yates said the team was in a "really good place" as a group, while Almeida described the team's performance in Switzerland as "enhancing confidence" while Ayuso said he would "do everything he can" while promising to help Poganyar aim for another tour victory. He said he is trying to "soak up the sun."
"I've dreamed of being in the Tour de France since I was a kid, so it feels great to start my first tour," said Ayuso
"It's a privilege to participate in a race like this in a team like this, so I'll try to absorb everything as much as possible."
"We come from a good block of training at Isola and the group is really united and motivated so we can hope for good over the next three weeks."
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