Some major teams have named their Tour de France line-ups today and it's mixed news for the Irish.
Tour de France line-ups mixed news for Irish
Nicolas Roche has been named on BMC Racing’s team for the Tour de France starting the weekend after next.
However, Philip Deignan has not been selected by Team Sky.
As expected in recent days, Bora-hansgrohe unveiled its Tour team and its Irish sprinter Sam Bennett was not selected.
The Carrick-on-Suir man went to the Giro d’Italia instead and may also ride the Vuelta later in the season.
Roche’s inclusion in the BMC Racing line-up today was expected. He will support Richie Porte in his bid to win the race outright.
And while it was hoped Deignan may be picked by Team Sky for what would have been his Tour debut, the competition for places in that line-up is intense.
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Team Sky will be led by Chris Froome. Supporting him will be: Sergio Henao, Vasil Kiryienka, Christian Knees, Michal Kwiatkowski, Mikel Landa, Mikel Nieve, Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas.
As well as Porte and Roche in the BMC Racing selection, also included are: Damiano Caruso, Alessandro De Marchi, Stefan Küng, Amaël Moinard), Michael Schär, Greg Van Avermaet and Danilo Wyss.
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While Ryan Mullen’s Cannondale-Drapac is riding the Tour, the young Irishman is not expected to be in the line-up.
That means Ireland will be represented this year by Roche and his cousin Dan Martin of QuickStep Flooring.
Martin goes into Tour, which begins with the opening stage TT in Dusseldorf next Saturday, a real contender.
The Irish climber was recently 3rd overall in the Criterium du Dauphine after a stunning final stage.
And having finished 9th in the Tour last year he will be aiming for the podium this time around.
Dan Martin goes into the Tour the very clear leader of his team and is gunning for a big general classification ride.
However, QuickStep will also fight for the sprint stages as it has Marcel Kittel in its line-up, the full shape of which has not yet been announced.
While Sam Bennett is not riding the Tour for Bora-hansgrohe, its line-up for the French race is a strong one.
It includes Maciej Bodnar, Emanuel Buchmann, Marcus Burghardt, Rafal Majka, Jay McCarthy, Pawel Poljanski, Peter Sagan, Juraj Sagan and Rüdiger Selig.
BMC believes Roche will have a crucial role to play for Porte at the Tour.
“We expect Damiano Caruso and Nicolas Roche to be the last two teammates with Richie in the big mountains,” said sports director Fabio Baldato.
“We have riders like Alessandro De Marchi and Amaël Moinard who will be crucial before and between the medium mountains.”
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