The early cobbled classics seem like a distant memory and with the first three-week foray ticked off, all attention in the cycling world, and further afield, turns to the Tour de France for the month of July.
Team Picnic PostNL will hunt stage results throughout the three weeks, with a focus on the fast finishes and in the hillier days when the race situation allows it. The team bring four Development program graduates to the Tour de France once again, including their very first Belgian graduate. The younger talents will be guided by experience, as Team Picnic PostNL coach Matt Winston elaborates.
“We head to the Tour with a group that is highly motivated to show our colours at the pointy end of things. As a team we’ve had a bumpy run-in, with an injury to sprint finisher Pavel, meaning that he missed some key racing kilometres. However, he’s recovered now and is ready to get in the mix in those fast finishes, like last year.
“We also bring a lot of experience within our sprint group with John, Niklas and Julius, and after a great first season as a pro, it’s exciting to have Frits make his race debut too. We also have another Tour debutant in the squad, Robbe, who’s a proud product of our Development program and is another exciting talent who can gain valuable experience and learn alongside his teammates as we hunt for stage results over the hillier terrain with the likes of Frank and Warren. We’re looking forward to getting underway in Barcelona and making a plan for each stage to best show ourselves over the three weeks.”
The team’s partnership portfolio is further strengthened with expanded Raisin collaboration
Team Picnic PostNL are also pleased to announce the enhanced partnership with savings and investment platform Raisin, following a successful campaign at the Giro d’Italia. The partnership reflects the strong alignment between the two organisations, with both sharing an ambitious, challenger mindset and a focus on game changing innovations in their respective fields. The expanded partnership with Raisin – which centers around bigger impact during the three-week Grand Tours – underlines the team’s ambitions to build for the future with a dedicated group of partners.
Line-up:
Warren Barguil
Julius van der Berg
Pavel Bittner
Frits Biesterbos
Frank van der Broek
John Degenkolb
Robbe Dhondt
Niklas Märkl