The Tinkoff Team announced on Friday that Oleg Tinkov will personally reveal the names of the Tinkoff riders who will compete at the 2016 Tour de France, which starts in Mont-Saint-Michel on Saturday, July 2.
Broadcasting live from the Moscow headquarters of Tinkoff Bank on Tuesday, June 28, Tinkov will unveil his team's roster in an event that will start at 17 CET and will be streamed live on the team's Facebook page.
The team will head to the Tour de France leading the UCI WorldTour team rankings and with Peter Sagan and Alberto Contador sitting on the two top spots of the individual rankings.
Oss extends with BMC
Daniel Oss has extended his contract with BMC Racing Team beyond the 2016 season, the team announced on Friday. The 29-year-old Italian has been with the US WorldTour team since coming over from Liquigas-Cannondale in 2013.
Oss said BMC was the ideal team for him.
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"I really love BMC Racing Team," he said. "The atmosphere, the people, and the BMC Switzerland bikes, these are the reasons why I want to stay. I feel that I have more to give the team, which the team also deserves, so I'm looking forward to making that happen this season and beyond."
BMC does not comment on the length of rider contracts.
Oliveira wins fourth Portuguese time trial title
Movistar's Nelson Oliveira claimed his fourth career Portuguese TT title on Friday, his third consecutive win in the country's time trial test. The 33-year-old also won the crown in 2011, 2014, and 2015.
Oliveira covered the 36km course in 43:30, 1:13 faster than runner-up José Mendes (Bora-Argon 18) and third-placed Rafael Reis (W52-FC Porto-Porto Canal).
“I'm super happy to have won again in my country against the clock. It makes me just as happy as it did when I grabbed this jersey for the first time," he said. "It was a good day, considering I was looking for some strong legs, considering the point of the season we're in. I knew this course really well from last year's Nationals and I knew what I had to do and what I'd tackle during the race. I tried to keep the same speed and following the references I put on myself in 2015 while saving some energy for the final part of the race, where I really wanted to test my legs at maximum effort.
Oliveira will seek for a second road race title on Sunday at the Sameiro circuit (177km), his last appearance before a decision is made on his Tour de France official selection.
"Now we're setting our sights on Sunday's road race and, then, the Tour," he said. "I'm raring to go there; I just can wait and see if the team wants me in. Let's hope I can make it in."
Sergei Chernetckii wins Russian time trial title
Katusha's Sergei Chernetckii took his first Russian time trial title Friday in Sebastopol, edging Tinkoff's Pavel Brutt by less than a second over the 49km course. Katusha teammates Maxim Belkov, Anton Vorobyev and Vladimir Isaychev finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively.
Chernetckii began his race in the middle of the start list and marked the best times both at the intermediate points and at the finish line.
"I am really happy, and honestly, I did not expect to win the gold medal today," Chernetckii said. "I can’t say the time trial is my strongest point, but as you know in the WorldTour this kind of race has a great impact when you are fighting for the GC. So I have worked a lot on this matter.
"Today, it was a question to give your best on this hard course. I did not think about any concrete place, just working hard on the distance from the start until the finish. Of course before the start I thought about my possible result, and I thought maybe I could reach the podium. But to win this race – this is something special for me. I came here to the championships in a good form after Tour de Suisse, so I was pretty happy I could transfer it to such a nice result."
