With an impressive haul of eight stage wins in the previous two editions of Le Grand Boucle, Team Giant-Alpecin heads to this year’s Tour de France once again with the goal of winning a stage as well as developing the riders and further enhancing the quality of the entire team.
After starting in Rotterdam in 2010, the 2015 Tour de France returns to the Netherlands, with the start in the Dutch city of Utrecht. The Tour de France will start on July 4 and finish in Paris on July 25 after 3,358.3km.
Coach Marc Reef (NED) said, “Our primary target will be stage success, and our long list for this year’s Tour should offer possibilities to achieve this goal.
"In preparation for the Tour, we have already completed a recon of the first two stages that take place in the Netherlands and the cobblestones on stage four. A few members of the team will start their specific preparation at the end of this month at the high-altitude training camp in Sierra Nevada, Spain. The final race preparations will be made at the Critérium du Dauphiné, Tour de Suisse and Ster ZLM Toer.”
LONG-LIST
Warren Barguil (FRA)
Roy Curvers (NED)
Bert De Backer (BEL)
John Degenkolb (GER)
Tom Dumoulin (NED)
Johannes Fröhlinger (GER)
Simon Geschke (GER)
Marcel Kittel (GER)
Koen de Kort (NED)
Georg Preidler (AUT)
Ramon Sinkeldam (NED)
Albert Timmer (NED)
Tom Veelers (NED)