UAE Team Emirates (France) – The Emirates team will be at the Grand Boucle, starting July 7 in Vendée, with a team led by Daniel Martin for the overall classification. The Irish cyclist, already a stage winner in the Tour, placed sixth in the 2017 edition even while racing 12 stages with a broken vertebra.

The European champion Alexander Kristoff will lead UAE Team Emirates’s sprint charge.

The team will therefore be competitive on more than one front and will be supported by riders with major experience like Marco Mercato, Rory Sutherland and Roberto Ferrari, and a young rouleur Oliviero Troia and two climbers Darwin Atapuma and Kristijan Durasek.

Team Manager Matxin Joxean Fernandez will manage the team with help from directors Philippe Mauduit and Simone Pedrazzini.

“Since I signed for Team UAE the big goal has been the Tour de France.” Martin said. “I plan to take the race day by day, stage by stage and try to achieve the best results possible. It’s really a race of 2 halves and the first 9 days will be very tricky bringing different challenges each day, but I’m confident we have a great team that can get me to the mountains in a good position to have a bit of fun. Everything has gone well since the Dauphine and I’m just looking forward to getting started.“

“This is the biggest race in the world.” Kristoff said. “The event where you get all the best cyclists, the best sprinters. I am going to France determined to get the best result possible and, if possible, a stage victory.”

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