Israel – Premier Tech will line up at this year’s Tour de France with a versatile team, once again seeking daily glory after last year’s milestone performance with two stage victories.
“We bring a strong team, ready to race aggressively, with the main goal of going for stage wins”, Sports Manager Rik Verbrugghe explains. “We all know that it’s hard to win a stage in the Tour, but I believe that each of our eight selected riders has what it takes to be victorious in this race. I would like to see the team race with the same attitude and eagerness as we did in the Giro d’Italia this year. If we can continue like this, racing opportunistically, I believe we will have a great race.”
Looking at the lineup, Michael Woods and Dylan Teuns will be the IPT leaders in the mountains, while last year’s stage winners Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle will keep an eye on the undulating stages together with Nick Schultz and Krists Neilands. Corbin Strong will make his Grand Tour debut and he can count on excellent support in the fast finishes from Guillaume Boivin, who’s also capable to fight for a stage win himself.
“Last year, we won two rather spectacular stages at the Tour de France, so the bar is high for us to exceed that result”, IPT partner Sylvan Adams says. “But the team we are sending this year is a strong one, and certainly can compete for stage wins. Our eight riders, including three Canadians, are a cohesive group, that have been training and racing together, most recently at La Route d’Occitanie, which served as a tune-up race for the Tour, where Mike Woods took the GC victory. I think our talented IPT squad will surprise some viewers this year. We are ready for an exciting Tour.”
Fresh off his overall victory in La Route d’Occitanie last week, Woods is eager to keep the momentum going at the Tour de France. Especially the Grand Depart in the Basque Country brings back good memories for the 36-year-old Canadian.
“I’m really excited for this year’s Tour de France. The course suits me quite well, especially the opening stages in the Basque Country. This is an area I’ve had a lot of success in with my two Vuelta a España stage wins both taking place there. I really enjoy racing in this area”, Woods tells.
“My big ambition is to win a stage and inspired by my Ottawa teammate, Derek Gee, I want to race a really aggressive race, trying to be as active as possible. The victory in La Route d’Occitanie gave me a lot of confidence. I’m really motivated and ready to race!”
After numerous strong performances in the recent months, IPT’s General Manager, Kjell Carlström, too, believes that the team will do well in its fourth Tour de France participation.
“It was a tough decision to select our Tour de France team this year but we feel we selected eight riders best suited to fulfilling our performance objectives. The fact that we had a difficult decision to make when looking at our long list shows the strength and depth of our rider group, and unfortunately we could not select everyone. We carefully looked at the necessary roles to fill when it comes to hunting for stage wins and chose our eight riders accordingly. The team is versatile and balanced and the guys can be impacting the race in almost any stage throughout the race. After the last few months of nice results, we’re eager to see what we can achieve in what will most certainly be a very competitive race.”
IPT lineup: Guillaume Boivin (CAN), Simon Clarke (AUS), Hugo Houle (CAN), Krists Neilands (LAT), Nick Schultz (AUS), Corbin Strong (NZL), Dylan Teuns (BEL), Michael Woods (CAN).
