Matteo Montaguti to ride his maiden Tour de France
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Jean Christophe Peraud time trials(Image credit: Susanne Goetze)
Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale) celebrates starting the final stage with two big thumbs up(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Romain Bardet (Ag2r) during stage 4(Image credit: Fotoreporter Sirotti)
Christophe Riblon (Ag2r-La Mondiale)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Having already announced eight-riders for the Tour de France, Ag2r La Mondiale have added Italian Matteo Montaguti as its ninth and final rider. The decision was made following the weekend of national championships in Europe and decided on the 30-year-old who will make his Tour debut on Saturday.
Montaguti has ridden seven previous grand tours since 2009 and his selection for the team means he will line up for his second grand tour of 2014 having raced the Giro d'Italia in May.
Ag2r La Mondiale previously announced that its ambitions for the 101st edition of the Tour is to place two riders in the top-15 overall with one of them inside the top-10.
The protected riders for the GC will be Christophe Riblon, Jean-Christophe Péraud and Romain Bardet, who was the best placed French rider in 2013.
The team is also aiming for stage wins through aggressive racing and will look to be present in breakaways throughout the race while the team classification is also an objective for July.
"These nine riders will, I am sure, once again embody the values of solidarity and performance which are those of Ag2r La Mondiale on this beautiful race that is the Tour de France," said Yvon Breton, deputy general manager of the team.
"I wish them every success and I invite them to make us live great moments of joy and emotion."
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Ag2r La Mondaile for the Tour de France: Romain Bardet, Mikael Cherel, Samuel Dumoulin, Ben Gastauer, Blel Kadri, Sébastien Minard, Matteo Montaguti, Jean-Christophe Peraud and Christophe Riblon.
Sébastien Turgot has been named as the first reserve.
