Tour of Utah announces four more teams, Trek-Segafredo's Giro team takes shape, New Energy Tour cancelled
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The Boels Dolmans squad(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah - Stage 1 - Riders enter the 1.1 mile long tunnel cut through one of the mountains in Zion National Park(Image credit: Jonathan Devich/epicimages.us)
Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo)
Eugenio Alafaci (Trek-Segafredo)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The crowds in Rotterdam were out en force.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Cycling is a cosmopolitan sport and teams are increasingly international with riders from all over the world. Boels Dolmans is one such team with their 11 riders hailing from seven different countries. That can bring its own problems, with names and pronunciations differing wildly from nation to nation.
Ahead of a busy weekend of action, where they will compete at the Festival Elsy Jacobs and the Tour de Yorkshire, Boels Dolmans decided to give fans – and commentators – a little hand with their pronunciation guide.
Dual race programme this weekend -- and both races have live feeds (!!!). We thought #TDYW + #Elsy17 commentators might find this useful. pic.twitter.com/9P6s679aDu
Tour of Utah announces four more teams
The Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah announced four more teams on Twitter, with US Continental team Axeon Hagens Berman joining European Pro Continental teams Caja-Rural Seguros RGA, Nippo-Vini Fantini and Bardiani CSF in the latest cut.
Axeon, the development team run by Axel Merckx, has a long history with the race and earned its best-ever result there last year when Adrien Costa finished second overall to Lachlan Morton, who was riding for Jelly Belly-Maxxis at the time but has since signed with Dimension Data.
Italian team Nippo-Vini Fantini will be making its second consecutive appearance in Utah after competing there for the first time last year. Bardiani CSF, another Italian team, will be making its second appearance in Utah after racing in the Beehive state in 2015, when climber Stefano Pirazzi finished 15th overall.
Caja-Rural Seguros RGA will be making its first appearance at the Tour of Utah, although the Spanish team has raced in North America previously, taking wins at the Philadelphia Cycling Classic and at the Tour de Beauce in Quebec.
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The Tour of Utah previously announced four teams for the 2017 race that is scheduled to run from July 31-August 6, including BMC Racing, UnitedHealthcare, Rally Cycling and Holowesko-Citadel.
Trek-Segafredo's Giro d'Italia team takes shape
With less than two weeks until the 100th edition of the Giro d'Italia gets underway in Sardinia, Trek-Segafredo has begun to reveal its nine-man team. Dutchman Bauke Mollema will lead the team's overall aspirations at the three-week race as he makes his first appearance at the race since his 2010 debut. Mollema was 12th overall in 2010 and has since finished fourth overall at the Vuelta a Espana and top-ten at the Tour de France on three occasions. The 30-year-old has been rebuilding his form after starting the season with Vuelta a San Juan victory.
In the high mountains, Mollema will be able to call upon Peter Stetina and Laurent Didier with the duo both to make their fourth start at the Giro. Didier and Stetina confirmed the news via their Twitter accounts.
"I haven't been in Italy for 4 years. It's going to be a bellisima return to #Giro100 with @TrekSegafredo #fightforpink", Stetina wrote on Twitter.
"After participating in the century edition of @LeTour i am happy to start also in the 100th @giroditalia with @TrekSegafredo", Didier wrote on Twitter.
Danish neo-pro Mads Pedersen also confirmed his appearance at the race in his first season with Trek-Segafredo. "Finally can I tell, im selected for the #Giro100, so happy to be a part of the team in Italy next month! Thanks @TrekSegafredo", he wrote.
Pedersen will be key domestique on the flat stages and will also be used the team's sprint train. Italian Eugenio Alafaci was the fourth rider to confirm his place in the team for his home Grand Tour. Alafaci will likewise be a man for the flats.
Having made his first appearance of the season at the Tour of Croatia after knee issues, Giacomo Nizzolo is likely to also line out at the Giro for Trek-Segafredo. Belgian Jasper Stuyven is also set to race the Giro with the team to confirm its final nine-man squad in the next week.
New Energy Tour cancelled for 2017
With the World Ports Classic disappearing from the cycling calendar, the UCI 1.1 New Energy Tour race was due to partially fill the void left by the two-day race. However, less than one month from its inaugural race, the Rotterdam event has been cancelled due to safety concerns. The race organisers explained that after extensive consultation the Alblasserdam finish line had been deemed unsafe and no alternative locations could be found in time.
The May 20 race was due to visit 11 towns on the islands of IJsselmonde, Voorne Putten, Goeree Overflakkee, Hoeksche Waard and Drechtsteden from its start location in Capelle aan den IJssel.
