Australia's Jay McCarthy in line-up for German team
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Peter Sagan (Bora-hansgrohe) wins(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Peter Sagan at the team car during Tour de Suisse(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rafal Majka and Bora-Hansgrohe working for Peter Sagan at Tirreno-Adriatico(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The Sagan brothers Peter and Juraj pose for a photo(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Rafal Majka (Bora-Hansgrohe) won the Tour of Slovenia queen stage to take the race lead(Image credit: Vid Ponikvar/Sportida)
Peter Sagan and the national champions in the team, Juraj Sagan, Jose Mendes and Rafal Majka(Image credit: Bora-hansgrohe / VeloImages)
World champion Peter Sagan and Poland's Rafal Majka have been confirmed as the leaders of the Bora-Hansgrohe team for the Tour de France as the German team targets stage victories and a sixth green points jersey with Sagan and a good overall result with Majka.
Supporting the two leaders are Maciej Bodnar, Emanuel Buchmann, Marcus Burghardt, Australia's Jay McCarthy, Pawel Poljanski, Juraj Sagan and Rüdiger Selig. The presence of Buchmann, Burghardt and Selig means the team will have three German riders in its line-up for the Grand Depart in Dusseldorf on Saturday July 1.
Bodnar, Burghardt, McCarthy, Selig and Juraj Sagan are expected to help Peter Sagan in the sprints and chasing points during each stage. Poljanski and Buchmann will protect and help Majka on the climbs. The 24-year-old Buchmann recently finished seventh overall at the Criterium du Dauphine and was the best young rider. He finished third in the best young rider competition at last year's Tour de France.
After taking home five successive green points jerseys between 2012 and 2016, Sagan will be hoping to equal Erik Zabel's all-time record of six green jerseys at this year's Tour de France. He faces competition from Michael Matthews (Team Sunweb), Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and the many other sprinters in the race.
Majka, also new to Bora-Hansgrohe this season after a spell at Tinkoff, is targeting the overall classification in the Tour de France and key mountain stages. He won the polka-dot jersey for a second time last year and has proven his Grand tour credentials by finishing third at the 2015 Vuelta a Espana and fifth at the 2016 Giro d'Italia. He opted for an alternative build-up to the Tour de France, finishing second at the Tour of California and then winning the Tour of Slovenia.
"We have a strong team going into this year's Tour de France. The last weeks and strong results gave us confidence, and we are eager to also fulfil our goals at the Tour," directeur sportif Enrico Poitschke said when the nine riders were confirmed.
"To fulfil our goals was also the main aspect in selecting the riders. We have to support two leaders and need a balance between guys for the flat, sprints, and climbers. I am confident we found that mix, and now we are ready and looking forward to the Grand Depart in Düsseldorf."
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Bora–Hansgrohe Tour de France team: Maciej Bodnar (Pol), Emanuel Buchmann (Ger), Marcus Burghardt (Ger), Rafal Majka (Pol), Jay McCarthy (Aus), Pawel Poljanski (Pol), Peter Sagan (Svk), Juraj Sagan (Svk) and Rüdiger Selig (Ger).
