Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark) on the podium as the silver medallist(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana)(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jakob Fuglsang and Ilnur Zakarin gain a few seconds on Dumoulin(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Ilnur Zakarin leading Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) in the finale of stage 6(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) awaits the start of stage 2(Image credit: Courtesy of Polartec-Kometa)
Jakob Fuglsang is gunning for the chance to lead Astana at the Tour de France next season. The 31-year-old, who won silver in the Olympic Games road race in Rio, last rode GC at the Tour de France in 2013 and he finished a creditable seventh in Paris.
In the years since the Danish rider has put the ambitions of Vincenzo Nibali and Fabio Aru ahead of his in the Tour but with Nibali leaving the team for Bahrain Merida, and Aru likely to ride GC at the Giro d'Italia, the path for Fuglsang could be clear.
"It's early to so say but there's the chance that I'll be able to go for GC," he told Cyclingnews at the 2017 Tour de France route presentation in Paris.
"That's not determined yet and before the first team camps we don't really know who will do what. With Vincenzo leaving and no other GC rider coming to the team there's the possibility of me having a chance. I would like to try one more time and get the chance to try and get something out of it.
"The Giro starts close to Fabio's home and this year's Tour was a bit of a disappointment for him so I think that he would like to go back to the Giro. Not that he wouldn't want to do to the Tour but I think he'll do the Giro."
The 2017 Tour de France route was revealed in Paris on Tuesday with a balanced route featuring less than 40 kilometres of time trialing. Fuglsang approved of the route on its first showing, and pointed to what could be an open race.
"It's surprising that there's not more time trialing, team time trial or cobble stones. It doesn't look like there's many surprises but in general it's a good route. I think with less mountains it will be a more open race," he said.
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Daniel Benson was the Editor in Chief at Cyclingnews.com between 2008 and 2022. Based in the UK, he joined the Cyclingnews team in 2008 as the site's first UK-based Managing Editor. In that time, he reported on over a dozen editions of the Tour de France, several World Championships, the Tour Down Under, Spring Classics, and the London 2012 Olympic Games. With the help of the excellent editorial team, he ran the coverage on Cyclingnews and has interviewed leading figures in the sport including UCI Presidents and Tour de France winners.
