Bob Jungels (Etixx-QuickStep) will target both the Giro d'Italia and the World Championship time trial in 2016. The Luxembourg dual road race and time trial champion made good on his promise as a stage racer last year when he finished 27th in his first Tour de France.
It can be easy to forget that he is still only 23 but expectation has followed Jungels since his first season in the professional peloton. Jungels is not setting himself a specific target in the overall classification but he feels that the Giro d'Italia is the best place to test himself and improve on what he has already achieved.
"There's no rush for me to look for any GC, that's for sure, but it is easier to do a result there than in the Tour. The Tour is super hard this year, and there is not much time trialling so I think it makes more sense," Jungels told Cyclingnews. "A stage win would be perfect but it's always hard and you never know how it will unfold. What happened in the first week of the Tour last year could happen in the Giro. I'm always a little bit more defensive with these. Going for a stage would be nice."
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This year’s Giro d'Italia has some 61 kilometres of time trialling split over three days and contains much less climbing than in recent years. While the Tour de France has a comparative 54 kilometres against the clock, it has double the amount of high mountain stages. The final Grand Tour of the year, the Vuelta a Espana contains just one individual time trial and 10 summit finishes. Last year's Tour de France also contained very little in the way of the discipline and Jungels feels that it demonstrates a worrying trend.
"I think it's really interesting and sometimes it's a pity to see that the time trials get lost somehow in the big races," he said. "This year, there are that many hard races and it's getting harder every year with more climbs. I don't really see where it's going but I think, and not because I'm good at time trialling, that time trialling should always be part of an overall stage race."
His second main focus of the season will be the time trial at the World Championships in Qatar, which will take place in October. An appearance at the World Championships would be only his second at senior level, after making his debut in 2013. He knows that the route is unlikely to suit him but he wants to test himself whatever the parcours.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
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