Nicolas Roche named in Team Sunweb Vuelta a España line-up | Sticky Bottle

Nicolas Roche goes into the Vuelta in good shape and having won two stages in the race in the past and held the leader's jersey

Ireland’s Nicolas Roche has been named in the Team Sunweb line-up for the Vuelta as the squad aims for both stage success and a general classification result.

In naming its team today the German WorldTour outfit said
it was backing Wilco Kelderman for the overall but that stage wins from the
other riders were also a target.

The Vuelta is a race Roche has done well in in the past;
winning two stages and holding most of the classification jerseys for periods,
including the leader’s jersey.

Roche tends to go better as the season progresses and has
a capacity to absorb a significant amount of racing and to continuing improving
his condition.

As well as the Irishman and Kelderman in the team, also named are: Nikias Arndt, Casper Pedersen, Robert Power, Michael Storer, Martijn Tusveld and Max Walscheid.

*Nicolas Roche has enjoyed his best career success at the Vuelta*

Team Sunweb coach Luke Roberts said the team was
preparing well and aiming for a successful three weeks in Spain.

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“The race starts with a 13.4 kilometre team time trial in
Torrevieja,” he said of the start on August 24th.

“We will then race over some familiar roads from our
training camps on the Costa Blanca, heading north to the first high mountain
stage in Andorra, followed by a 36 kilometre individual time trial in
Pau.

“The race then moves through the Basque Country and
Asturias before the final week in central Spain and the finish in Madrid.

“With two time trials and eight hilltop finishes,
including the brutal Alto de Los Machucos and Alto de La Cubilla to sort the
GC, there looks to be five or six opportunities for sprinters.

“And the rest of the stages will likely go to breakaways
or a decimated bunch. Our main goal will be to target a good GC result with
Wilco.

“We bring strong support with Nicholas,
Australians Robert and Michael, and also all-round talent Martijn, who we
are really happy to see on our line-up after a really difficult
period recovering from his Paris-Nice crash.

“Max will be taking aim at stage success in the flat
sprints, backed up by Grand Tour debutant Casper and our road captain Nikias.”