Poels headlines Team Sky at the Tour de Pologne

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Wout Poels will headline Team Sky at the Tour de Pologne as he begins his preparation for the Vuelta a España next month. Poels returns to racing after a summer break and will be joined by Sebastian Henao and Diego Rosa.

Poels was originally meant to be racing in assistance of Chris Froome at the Tour de France, but a knee injury that has disrupted much of his season ultimately ended up with him missing the final cut. At the time, Poels said that he was not angry with the snub, but was 'disappointed.' He is now set to help Froome to attempt to win the Vuelta a España for the first time. Poels last raced at the Dutch national road race championships at the end of June.

Henao and Rosa will be alongside the Dutchman as strong support in the climbs, and potential contenders for stage wins. Both riders competed at the Giro d'Italia earlier in the season, with Henao finishing seventh in the youth classification. Rosa joined the team this season and impressed early on with fifth at the Ruta del Sol.

Danny Van Poppel will give the team options in the traditionally difficult sprints, with Salvatore Puccio and Polish riders Michal Golas and Lukasz Wisniowski providing firepower on the flatter and rolling terrain. Van Poppel has taken one victory this season, a stage win at the Herald Sun Tour at the start of February.

None of the team has raced since late June, taking a break while their teammates have been competing at the Tour de France. The 2017 Tour de Pologne will begin this weekend on July 29 and finish on August 4.

Team Sky for the Tour de Pologne: Michal Golas, Sebastian Henao, Wout Poels, Salvatore Puccio, Diego Rosa, Danny Van Poppel, Lukasz Wisniowski.