Tom Dumoulin, who came close to winning the Vuelta a Espana, says that he hopes to stay with Giant-Alpecin. But the team must also add more help in the mountains. Dumoulin lost the Vuelta lead on the penultimate stage, where he was notably alone on the climbs.
The team has focused on sprints the last few years, with top sprinters John Degenkolb and Marcel Kittel on the team. Next season, however, Dumoulin expects more help in the mountains. "The idea is that we attract more support for me and Warren Barguil," Dumoulin said in the radio program De Nieuws BV.
"Of course we will continue to focus on the sprint, but we will no longer be purely aimed on it. We also want to take steps for the classification."
Boels Dolmans aim for team time trial medal in Richmond
The Boels Dolmans cycling team hope to best their fifth place finish last year, at the world team time trial championship in Richmond on Sunday. The relatively flat 38.8km course takes the riders through rural Richmond before returning to the downtown area where they will face a 300-metre climb before the finishing straight.
The team announced its six-rider roster to be led by former time trial champion Ellen van Dijk who will be joined by Christine Majerus, Lizzie Armitstead, Evelyn Stevens, Chantal Blaak and Kasia Pawlowska.
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Stevens and Blaak add winning experience to the team with the duo part of Velocio-SRAM's winning squad in 2014 while van Dijk was part of the 2012 and 2013 gold medal winning teams.
"In Vargarda we saw Boels-Dolmans is one of the three contenders for a medal and we did not have Ellen [van Dijk] there," team director Danny Stam said referring to the team time trial third place finish for the team last month. "We worked hard to be at our highest possible level next weekend and are ready to aim for a great result."
While Boels Dolmans have been have on the best women's teams in the peloton across the last few season they are yet to medal in the only trade event at the World Championships.
Team Hitec Products names Worlds team time trial squad
The Norwegian based Team Hitec Products took to Twitter to announce their squad for the world's team time trial this weekend. The six riders will include Charlotte Becker, Cecilie Gotaas Johnsen, Miriam Bjørnsrud, Tatiana Guderzo, Lauren Kitchen and Emilie Moberg.
Three of the six participating were part of the squad that finished ninth in last year's edition in Spain, behind the three-time world champions, Specialized – Lululemon, now racing as Velocio-SRAM in their final competition. The team time trial is the only event to be contested by trade teams. The women will compete on the same course as the men's race, which follows the culmination of the women Sunday morning.
Astana extends with three
Astana has extended its contracts with three riders who helped Fabio Aru win the Vuelta a Espana. Dario Cataldo and Diego Rosa will now stay with the team through 2017 and Paolo Tiralongo through 2016.
Cataldo and Rosa both finished the race, and "Tiralongo is making a healthy, full recovery from injuries received during a crash in the Vuelta's first week," the team said.
"Astana Pro Team is confident in the continuing abilities of all three riders, and proud of their strong professionalism, exceptional talent and tremendous hard work."
Pirazzi extends with Bardiani-CSF
Stefano Pirazzi has extended his contract with Bardiani-CSF for two years, through 2017. The 28-year-old, who has spent his whole pro career with the Italian team, won a stage at the Giro d’Italia in 2014.
"Working hard we believe he could continue to improve and have the possibility to achieve really important results," said team manager Robert Reverberi. "Also his experience will be fundamental for the young riders that we already have and the new guys who are coming in 2016."
