Kicking off the Tour in fighting form - week one wrap up |
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Set to be one for the history books, Team Sunweb have gotten their 2020 Tour de France campaign off to a great start, using their collective, versatile strengths to be up there fighting for a result each day.
Stage one showed that the team were to be taken seriously in the sprints as Cees Bol powered to a strong third place, after carefully navigating his way through a day that was marred with crashes and bad weather. The second day was debutant Marc Hirschi’s turn to thrust the team into the limelight after an explosive final saw him take second place on the stage and move into the white jersey as best young rider - a classification he would lead for two days. Talk of the town then turned to the team’s lead out for Cees on stage five, where their preparations primed Bol to unleash his phenomenal power to perfection, with a photo finish ultimately awarding him second place.
Up there in the breakaways, the team placed Tiesj Benoot, Nicholas Roche, Søren Kragh Andersen and Marc Hirschi in the breaks on stages four, six, eight and nine. Tiesj’s efforts were ruined by an unfortunate crash with a somewhat lucky escape, whilst Roche was awarded the most combative rider award and Søren took home a respectable eighth place finish after his day out in the mountains.
It was Hirschi's foray out front on stage nine that exemplified the team's performance in the opening week. After a ding-dong battle over the first 50 kilometres where every rider on the team was rotating on the attack, including a moment where three riders escaped the bunch together, Hirschi skipped away from the peloton in pursuit of a group that had gone clear on the tough climb. Riding straight past them, Hirschi set out on a daring 90 kilometre solo raid in the Pyrenees, where he was ultimately caught two kilometres from the line. Unwavering, Hirschi tightened his shoes for the sprint finish, almost catching everyone off guard with his sprint for the line and taking an incredibly hard fought third place.
With the first week now under wraps, motivations and ambitions in the team are higher than ever. The boys in France take their fighting spirit into the second week, continuing to hunt down that coveted stage success. |
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#InsideOut at the Tour de France - Our top picks from week 1 |
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 | | After some incredibly tough weather conditions, Cees Bol sprinted to a superb third place on the opening stage; a result that got the team's Tour de France campaign off to a flying start. |
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 | | Dancing on the pedals and following a stinging attack from Alaphilippe on Col d'Èze, Marc Hirschi took a fantastic second place on stage two and vaulted into the lead of the white jersey. |
 | | An inspiring pep talk from Nicholas Roche on the bus in the morning, Marc Hirschi gave it his all on the first summit finish in the race in an attempt to hold onto his white jersey lead. |
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#InsideOut at the Tour de France - Catch up with the debutants |
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 | | With a fabulous second place on stage two, a heroic third place on stage nine and a stint in the white jersey, the Tour de France has already been a successful one for Marc Hirschi. Sit down with Marc as he talks about what it feels to make his debut at this year's race. |
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 | | We spent an afternoon with Joris Nieuwenhuis for our latest Home Story episode, where we witnessed first hand his ability to shred it on the guitar as well as he can do on the road. |
 | | Part of the team's picture perfect lead out on stage five, find out more about one of our Tour debutants Casper Pedersen and his dream of becoming the best lead out man in the world. |
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#InsideOut at the Tour de France - Tech behind the two stripes |
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 | | Our new DSM Dyneema protective jerseys, Lazer Volante helmet, 3D printed TT arm pads, Roka Matador sunglasses, Life's Omega 3, probiotics and our Arnitel rain jacket; take a look at all of the exciting new technology that we are using at this year's race and beyond. |
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#InsideOut at the Tour de France - Our top snaps from week 1 |
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| Click on the pictures above to check out our stunning race galleries from stages one and five; filled with lots of action and plenty of strong riding from the guys. |
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 | Throughout the Tour de France Velon are sending out a daily email jam packed with exciting content such as race highlights, on-bike footage and rider diaries. Does that sound like fun to you? Click here to sign up! |
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