Froome vs Porte: Sky and BMC name their Tour de France squads
Henao, Landa, Nieve and Thomas in Sky's dominant-looking lineup
Perhaps it was coincidence, perhaps gamesmanship, but both Sky and BMC revealed their Tour de France lineups on Thursday, nine days before Le Grand Départ in Düsseldorf, Germany. Sky’s Chris Froome is the three-time, reigning champion and odds-on favourite, while BMC’s Australian Richie Porte is considered to be Froome’s main rival this year for the yellow jersey in Paris.
Sky went with most of its usual “murderers’ row” of power, with only Wout Poels missing because he’s still recovering from early season injury. Spanish-speakers Sergio Henao, Mikel Landa and Mikel Nieve provide plenty of climbing punch, as does Geraint Thomas.
New Polish time trial champion Michal Kwiatskowski will be sniffing out stage wins, while Belorussian hardman Vasil Kiryienka brings the pain. German Christian Knees rides his first TdF since 2012 and Brit Luke Rowe contests his third Grande Boucle in a row.
Sky will wear a special white jersey for the 104th edition.
On my way with @chrisfroome & @TeamSky to @LeTour ? Can't wait? pic.twitter.com/CNmbTyc9qp
— Michał Kwiatkowski (@kwiato) June 22, 2017
BMC hopes to address the team weakness that made Porte vulnerable in the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, where the Australian lost to Jakob Fuglsang on the final stage. Irishman Nicolas Roche, Italian Tour de Suisse runner-up Damiano Caruso, Frenchman Amaël Moinard and Italian Alessandro De Marchi will provide support in the mountains.
Belgian Greg van Avermaet is having a stellar season and will be hunting his third Tour de France stage win.
Swiss trio Stefan Küng, Michael Schar and Danilo Wyss round out the team.
Some were surprised that Rohan Dennis and Ben Hermans weren’t included in BMC’s TdF outfit. Dennis took to Twitter to clear up speculation.
https://twitter.com/RohanDennis/status/877884163982020608
