Chris Froome has not been selected for the Israel-Premier Tech Tour de France squad, with Michael Woods, Dylan Teuns, Simon Clarke and Hugo Houle and Corbin Strong preferred as the team targets stage victories on all terrains during the three-week race.
Froome won the Tour de France four times between 2013 and 2017 but turned 38 in May. He overcome a tendon problem in April and attended a pre-Tour altitude camp, convinced he could still try to fight for a stage victory at the race.
The Israel-Premier Tech team management felt otherwise, explaining their selection decision without mentioning Froome.
“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,” team manager Kjell Carlström said.
“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.” Clarke and Houle won stages in last year's Tour and the team continued to race aggressively at the Giro d’Italia with Derek Gee often on the attack and finishing second on four stages.
Israel-Premier Tech hope that Woods, Teuns, Clarke Houle and Strong can continue that approach. Also in the final eight are Nick Schultz, Krists Neilands and Guillaume Boivin.
“We bring a strong team, ready to race aggressively, with the main goal of going for stage wins,” directeur sportif Rik Verbrugghe explained.
“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.”
Woods won La Route d’Occitanie last week and hopes to keep the momentum going at the Tour de France, especially in the hilly Basque Country stage in the opening weekend, when the yellow jersey could also be up for grabs.
“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 said.
“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! I’m really excited for this year’s Tour de France.”
Israel-Premier Tech for the Tour de France (July 1-23): Guillaume Boivin (Can), Simon Clarke (Aus), Hugo Houle (Can), Krists Neilands (Lat), Nick Schultz (Aus), Corbin Strong (Nzl), Dylan Teuns (Bel), Michael Woods (Can).
