UAE Team Emirates will pursue stages victories and target the overall classification of the Tour de France with Louis Meintjes, Ben Swift and Diego Ulissi giving the Arabian team three different options for success.
They will be supported by Darwin Atapuma of Colombia, Kristijan Durasek of Croatia, Vegard Stake Laengen of Norway and Italians Matteo Bono, Marco Marcato and Manuele Mori, giving them a mix of youth and experience.
The UAE and Emirates stepped in to save the team from folding last winter and are hoping for success in their debut Tour de France.
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Meintjes turned 25 in February and will be eligible for the best young rider competition for a final time at the Tour de France. He will battle with Simon Yates (Orica-Scott), Emmanuel Buchmann (Bora-Hansgrohe) for the coveted white jersey but the South African’s consistency and Tour de France experience perhaps gives him an edge. He has already ridden five Grand Tours and was eighth overall in 2016.
“Last year’s result motivates me to try and go for some more in the GC. I hope that there will be no problems in the first week, then it will be great to have on the mountains the same feelings I had in the Critérium du Dauphiné,” Meintjes said when UAE Team Emirates confirmed its line-up.
“Coming out of the Dauphiné, I feel quite good. I went on the attack on the second last stage to test the form and everything went right. The race has gone a long way in giving me the confidence for the next few weeks ahead,” he explained to the In the Bunch website in South Africa.
Meintjes again promised to ride intelligently, in the hope of a consistent performance and a good overall result. He may not be seen on the attack but hopes to limit his losses on every mountain finish and so rise through the general classification before Paris.
Swift and Ulissi to be aggressive
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