The clever and funny ways WorldTour teams announced their 2021 Tour de France lineups
Movie posters, WhatsApp messages and more
Photo by:
Lotto-Soudal/Instagram
The Tour de France, cycling’s biggest event, is less than a week away. Fans are paying close attention to who is (and isn’t) heading to the Tour, so teams often take the opportunity to have a bit of fun with the announcement of which riders will race the event.
Here are some of the more interesting Tour de France lineup announcements posted by WorldTour teams this year.
Trek-Segafredo
The Trek-Segafredo team designed their announcement in the style of the French Asterix and Obelix comic book series. The photo, which looks like a movie poster (“coming soon”) features the names of the eight riders racing the Tour. The Tweet adds the suffix “-ix” added to their last names, as most Asterix characters’ names finish with -ix.
Our chosen 8 are ready for their next adventure! ? #TDF2021
?? Bernardix
?? Ellisondix
?? Mollemix
?? Nibalix
?? Pedersix
?? Skujix
?? Stuyvix
?? Theunix pic.twitter.com/3pba6wKVeD— Trek-Segafredo (@TrekSegafredo) June 22, 2021
The team seems to be sticking with movie-themed announcements—they recently edited the Jaws poster to say “Giro” with the caption “We’re gonna need a bigger boat! The Shark (Vincenzo Nibali) is coming to the Girod d’Italia.”
Lotto Soudal
The Lotto-Soudal team took a sneaky approach to its announcement. Over the course of one week, all the Tour de France squad posted photos on their personal social media alluding to their participation in the event. The photos ranged from subtle (Tosh Van der Sande playing pétanque by a pool and Jasper de Buyst with a massive jar of dijon mustard), to a bit more obvious (Roger Kluge holding a croissant.)
Ineos Grenadiers
In true Ineos Grenadiers style, the team announced the Tour de France squad with a high-production-value video that features drawings of all the crew.
A Tour de France ???? like no other, ready to take the initiative.
Expect the unexpected.
Our #TDF2021 lineup. pic.twitter.com/D9wh4tzvJt
— INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) June 18, 2021
Team DSM
Team DSM announced its roster with an entertaining real-time video of the Tour de France squad’s WhatsApp group chat. The team members poke fun at each other and joke around about what they’ll be packing for the Tour.
??????? WhatsApp group…? but this time, make it @LeTour ??#KeepChallenging #TDF2021 pic.twitter.com/RXORhEfZPQ
— Team DSM (@TeamDSM) June 22, 2021
Deceuninck-QuickStep
With Mattia Cattaneo’s enthusiastic double thumbs-up, Kasper Asgreen’s innocent peace sign and Michael Mørkøv’s finger guns, the Wolfpack’s Tour de France announcement has a bit of an endearing “the boys take on France” energy.
World Champion @alafpolak1, Ronde van Vlaanderen victor @k_asgreen and 30-time stage winner @MarkCavendish will all feature on Deceuninck – Quick-Step’s squad for the biggest race in the world – @LeTour. pic.twitter.com/H56OQ9l2rv
— Deceuninck-QuickStep (@deceuninck_qst) June 21, 2021
Bora-Hansgrohe
Bora-Hansgrohe’s lineup announcement was relatively plain, but the team has been hinting at a new kit for the Tour de France on Instagram, posting photos of headlines alluding to the new (possibly checkerboard?) design.
UAE Team Emirates
The UAE Team Emirates Tour de France squad announcement video is well done, though inexplicably western-themed.
