Kreuziger and Boasson Hagen ride 10th Tours; SA Champion
NTT Pro Cycling (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) is delighted to confirm the eight riders that will represent us at the 2020 Tour de France, our team's sixth appearance at the sport's biggest race.
The Grand Depart is set for
Gibbons (26), will sport his national colours in cycling's biggest race and he will be looking to build on what's been a strong 2020, including six-top 10 finishes to go with the national title he won in Mpumalanga in February. It's a selection that he's described as "truly special" and one in which he "hopes to do the jersey proud".
His power will be a key asset to the group of fast men that make up the NTT Pro Cycling selection for the race, as also making his Tour debut is the big German sprinter
The 26-year-old secured wins early in the season at the Tour de Langkawi, and has crucially struck up an excellent partnership with fellow sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo.
The Italian rode his first Tour de France for our team in 2019, and is confident ahead of the 2020 depart. He's yet to win a career Grand Tour stage but has been in excellent form this year, taking WorldTour wins at the Tour Down Under,
Tour de France veterans
The 33-year-old triple stage-winner, in particular, will be hoping to go one better on the Champs Elysée, having finished six times in the top-5 on the iconic final sprint stage in
Meanwhile for the
28-year-old
Completing the selection is the 26-year-old
The 2020 edition of the Tour de France is set to pose a unique set of challenges across the peloton in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as such NTT Pro Cycling has explored innovative ways of engaging our partners in even deeper meaningful ways. Throughout the race, exclusive insights will be shared on what life is like "inside the bubble" as we offer our partners unprecedented access while proudly riding in support of the Qhubeka charity.
2020 marks the 10th year that our organisation has ridden in support of Qhubeka and seen us fund over 30000 bicycles to people in disadvantaged communities. The power to create positive change through cycling is a cornerstone of our team's purpose and once again we look forward to being ambassadors for the power that sport has to effect positive change, on the biggest stage of all.
QUOTES
I'm absolutely overwhelmed and thrilled to be selected for the Tour de France. It's the pinnacle of the sport, and for any pro rider it's a dream of theirs to get that notch on their belt. For it to become a reality is truly special.
I have taken part in the Giro and the Vuelta multiple times but the Tour will be very, very special especially being in the colours as the national champion. I hope to do the jersey proud, and play my part in what will hopefully be a very successful race for NTT Pro Cycling.
Giacomo Nizzolo
I'm happy to announce that I've been selected for the 2020 Tour de France for my team. It's been a really good year so far, and I'm looking forward to being on the start line in
It's a huge honour to make the team again and to be able to go to the Tour. It is one of the biggest dreams for any cyclist so to be able to do it once again is a privilege -- I can't wait. I like the pressure (of being a stage winner) but I think that the team is aiming for stages, which includes me of course, so hopefully we can work together towards that which would be really great.
One word on being selected again -- awesome. The Tour's the biggest race of the season and that's what we're all aiming for and I'm lucky to be selected again for now my sixth Tour and hopefully this year I can take a stage win. Bjarne's going to put some pressure on us, he's a man that likes to make some crazy tactics once in a while and to go and take a risk and that's what we need so it's definitely going to be 21 interesting stages to see.
It's the biggest race in the world and it's always a great privilege to take part in it. Even now as we're coming from a difficult Dauphine we will work hard, and as we recover will step up. I'm really looking forward to being back at the race as I'm convinced that we have a good team and I've never won a stage there so I hope that I can finally realise that dream there.
Of course I am super happy to be selected for this year's Tour de France. It's going to be my third Tour, and with a new team it's going to be something special. I'm extremely motivated and looking forward to it and that's how we are going to approach the race as well.
I'd been waiting for the last couple of weeks for this moment but I'm super happy to announce that NTT Pro Cycling selected me for the Tour de France. It will be my first ever Tour de France and I'm extremely happy and thrilled to line up in
I am extremely excited to be selected. If I think that just a year ago I had such a terrible accident where I risked my life, I thought it would be impossible to start the Tour again, and to just simply be back racing is a great result for me. The goal for the race will be for me to be a protagonist on the mountain stages because there are a lot of chances/possibilities for climbers. After the Dauphine I think that my shape will be improving and I'm spending some time at altitude on Stelivo to be in the best possible shape at the Grand Depart in
It's very exciting (to select the team) but also a tough job, it's tough to select and especially for those that miss out. But that's what it is, and it's a part of the job.
It's obvious when you look at our roster that we're going for stages, that's going to be our main focus. And then our only guy can be Pozzovivo (in the GC), I know that Roman was 16th last year but we have to see as many things can happen ahead of the race. But from the start we won't have a big focus on the GC but rather for stages, and all kinds of them as we have a team that can feature on the sprints, massif sprints, the middle stages and hopefully also some mountain stages.
Everything is up for grabs in this race. Dauphine was very, very hard and some will pay for that, and some will come out better. There is a huge fight between Jumbo-Visma and
I'm excited to be back at the Tour again, it's been a while, too long I would say but I'm excited to see if we can deliver some nice results for the team.
This is our sixth Tour de France and in our previous five appearances we've won seven stages which is pretty incredible. This is also a very special Tour de France for us in that we're representing Qhubeka as the official charity of our team and also the purpose that drives us and gets us going every single day. The fact that we can use our success to enable and give hope, independence and opportunity to people across
As always, as a team we focus on our own strengths and during the Tour de France we select our riders based on what we feel suits us in terms of the success that we can derive from it.
If you look at the 2020 Tour de France it's 3470 km in 21 days -- 9 flat stages and three hilly stages -- so there will be 12 opportunities for a team like ours, with the riders that we've chosen. And a number in the first week: stage 1, 3, 5 and stage 7 are big opportunities for us and those are the stages that we will focus on in that first week.
Of course winning on stage one with a rider like Giacomo Nizzolo would give us the yellow jersey, so in support of him we have
And then to think that we've got
We feel that we've got a very balanced team, and focus on stage wins and try and raise as much awareness for our team and it's the first time that we're racing as NTT Pro Cycling having previously been
To see the video of our announcement:bit.ly/NTT_TdFTeam
For audio of our release, please go here: bit.ly/NTT_TdFAudio
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Media Contact:
Email:jean@ryder.co.za
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About NTT Pro Cycling:
Founded in 2007, NTT Pro Cycling (formerly Team Dimension Data for Qhubeka) (http://www.NTTProCycling.com) became the first-ever African cycling team to gain a WorldTour license, in 2016. With the support of our headline sponsor and technology innovation partner,
Our ambition is to continue to race at the highest levels in world cycling, to develop riders to realise their full potential and to inspire and motivate people across the African continent to ride bicycles.
We have bases in
We also ride to raise awareness for Qhubeka, a global charity operating in
The hands on the back of the team race jersey are a reminder that every Qhubeka bicycle is a helping hand up to a beneficiary, which are provided through Qhubeka's learn-to-earn and work-to-earn programmes.
About Qhubeka:
Qhubeka (https://Qhubeka.org/) is a charity that moves people forward with bicycles.People earn bicycles through our programmes, improving their access to schools, clinics and jobs.
A bicycle is a tool that helps people to travel faster and further, and to carry more. In the face of extreme and persistent poverty, bicycles can change lives by helping to address socioeconomic challenges at the most basic level -- helping people to get where they need to go.
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