The Etixx-QuickStep team heads into this year's Tour de France with stage wins as their main goal, and they will count on new recruit Marcel Kittel as their main man for the sprint stages. The German has racked up ten wins for the team so far this season, including two in the Giro d'Italia, where he also spent a day in the race leader's jersey. In his last Tour de France appearance in 2014, Kittel won four stages, including the first stage bunch sprint that netted him a day in the maillot jaune.
"The team is built around Marcel, and that comes as no surprise, because when you have a guy capable of winning stages in Grand Tours, it's normal to do this," manager Patrick Lefevere said.
"It wasn't easy to choose nine riders for the Tour de France, because many deserve a spot in the team, but together with the sport directors we selected the strongest collective we have at this moment, capable of achieving the goals we have outlined," Lefevere said.
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The team includes Daniel Martin, who finished third overall in the Critérium du Dauphiné and Volta a Catalunya this year in addition to a third place in La Flèche Wallonne. Etixx-Quickstep also brings Tony Martin, who wore the maillot jaune last year before a crash the next day left him with a broken collarbone and he was forced to abandon.
"In the past weeks, he worked hard to be in top shape for this race and can make something great again, while at the same time being a valuable rider for the strategy we built around Kittel," Lefevere said.
Kittel's lead-out squad also includes Fabio Sabatini, Max Richeze, who recently won a stage in the Tour de Suisse, Iljo Keisse, Czech champion Petr Vakoc and Julien Vermote, with Julian Alaphilippe giving the team options for some of the tougher stages.
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