BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS TO TOUR DE FRANCE
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| Bahrain Victorious head to the 109th edition of La Grande Boucle with a strong line-up and a target of a podium in the General Classification with Jack Haig and Damiano Caruso. The GC leaders will have the support of Jan Tratnik, Kamil Gradek, Fred Wright and the experienced Luis Leon Sanchez. 2021 stage winners Matej Mohorič and Dylan Teuns, both looking for a third stage win at Tour de France, round up the strong and versatile line-up for Bahrain Victorious. |
The 109th edition of the Tour departs from Copenhagen, Denmark, on 1st July 2022, concluding with the infamous sprint finish on the Champs-Élysées on 24th July 2022. The 21 stages cover 3,349.8 km and a versatile parcour with two time trials, classic like cobble stages, bunch sprints, chances for echelons, and plenty of climbs as riders tackle 48,530 vertical meters.
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The GC contenders will be cautiously looking towards the first week with the opening time trial and a technical stage 5, where they take on 11 sectors of Paris Roubaix cobbles.
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| The first summit finish is on stage 7 on Planche des Belles Filles, a happy hunting ground for Dylan Teuns, where he won his first stage at the Tour de France in 2019 and later proposed to his wife. |
Stage 11 and 12 will be the big test in the Alps for the GC contenders as they battle a gruelling 8,730 vertical meters and five Hors Categorie climbs over the two stages.
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The next test comes in the Pyrenees on stages 17 and 18, with four category 1 climbs and two Hor Categorie climbs over 7,388 vertical meters, with the final shake-up in the GC coming on stage 20 on the 40km time trial ending in Rocamadour.
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Jack Haig will focus on those key stages as he looks to fight for the GC: “I’m feeling really good coming into the Tour and maybe a little more relaxed this year than last year. Last year I went into the race with a lot of pressure on myself and to prove to my new team that I could perform.
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| This year I feel much more comfortable in the team alongside the group of riders we have going into the Tour, so I’ve not got much to be nervous about. |
As I said, we’ve got a strong line-up going into the race with really good flat support, which will be important for the first 7-8 days, which will be about minimising the risk of any bad luck.
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For my personal ambitions, I want to go well in the GC, and if I get a top 5 finish by the end of the Tour, I’d be quite happy. For the team’s ambitions, we will look for some stage results, with the strong guys who will have opportunities to look for some results themselves.”
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| The double stage winner at last year’s Tour Matej Mohorič will offer key support for GC leaders but will also keep an eye out for opportunities to add to his stage win tally: “My goal in this year’s Tour is to try and win a stage again. My favourite stage will be stage 5 with the finish at Arenberg forest. I was the first rider to enter it at Paris Roubaix, so my dream is to be the first there again in July. |
I feel confident. I’ve worked as hard as I ever did to be ready for the season’s biggest race. If I can’t do it there, I hope to get a stage win elsewhere from the breakaway. My teammates are also ready; together, we will try and make an even better race than last year.”
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| Lead Sports Director Gorazd Štangelj on the team’s overall objectives: “Our goal is to take the team’s first podium at the Tour de France, which we narrowly missed out on with Landa back in 2020. |
| We’ve selected a really strong group of riders for the Tour. It’s a Tour with plenty of challenges with chances for wind in Denmark and then more wind in France and Cobbles. After this, we go straight into a concentrated block of uphill finishes. I think we have got a group of riders to cover all these difficult challenges and support our leaders, Jack and Damiano, to achieve our objective. |
| We will also be looking for chances with our other riders to take stage wins or help us gain time for our overall objective. I’m convinced we have a strong team for the race itself.” |
