Events

NTT Pro Cycling name 2020 Tour de France team

Supplied by NTT Pro Cycling.

· By Nick · 22 comments

NTT Pro Cycling is delighted to confirm the eight riders that will represent us at the 2020 Tour de France, our team’s sixth appearance at the sport’s biggest race.

NTT Pro Cycling Tour de France team 2020.jpg

The Grand Depart is set for Nice, France on 29 August with our line-up featuring an exciting array of experience, coupled with youth.

Ryan Gibbons, the South Africa road race champion, will be one of two Tour de France debutants who are set to be on the start line for NTT Pro Cycling.

Gibbons (26), will sport his national colours in cycling’s biggest race and he will be looking to build on what’s been a strong 2020, including six-top 10 finishes to go with the national title he won in Mpumalanga in February. It’s a selection that he’s described as “truly special” and one in which he “hopes to do the jersey proud”.

His power will be a key asset to the group of fast men that make up the NTT Pro Cycling selection for the race, as also making his Tour debut is the big German sprinter Max Walscheid.

The 26-year-old secured wins early in the season at the Tour de Langkawi, and has crucially struck up an excellent partnership with fellow sprinter Giacomo Nizzolo.

The Italian rode his first Tour de France for our team in 2019, and is confident ahead of the 2020 depart. He’s yet to win a career Grand Tour stage but has been in excellent form this year, taking WorldTour wins at the Tour Down Under, Paris-Nice as well as finishing an excellent 5th at Milano-Sanremo in early August.

Tour de France veterans Edvald Boasson Hagen and Roman Kreuziger both appear at the race for a tenth time, with the Norwegian having ridden all of the previous editions for our team.

The 33-year-old triple stage-winner, in particular, will be hoping to go one better on the Champs Elysée, having finished six times in the top-5 on the iconic final sprint stage in Paris.

Meanwhile for the Czech Republic’s Kreuziger, who first rode the Tour in 2008, he has notched up four top-10 finishes overall in his nine previous appearances but has yet to claim a stage victory, a goal that he has set himself to add to his impressive palmares.

28-year-old Dane Michael Valgren will start his sixth Tour de France in fairly familiar surroundings, with the race’s opening stages taking place on some of his home training roads in and around Monaco. Valgren made his debut at the event in 2015 under current team manager Bjarne Riis. The former Amstel Gold Race and Omloop Het Niuewsblad winner is keen to add a stage win at the Tour to his list of achievements.

Domenico Pozzovivo had two strong days at the recently completed Criterium du Dauphine before the heat and difficulty of the parcours took its toll but he showed very encouraging signs for the coming race. His selection comes, remarkably, just a year after his horror crash while training and saw him undergo multiple surgeries on his arm and leg. This will be the diminutive Italian’s third appearance at the race where previously he’s taken two top-10 stage positions, as well as finishing inside the top-20 overall in 2018.

Completing the selection is the 26-year-old Austrian Michael Gogl who will play a crucial leadership role across the race for our team. He’s takes to the start line for a first time for NTT Pro Cycling, having ridden the race twice before and comes into the race off an excellent top-10 finish at Strade Bianche.

The 2020 edition of the Tour de France is set to pose a unique set of challenges across the peloton in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, and as such NTT Pro Cycling has explored innovative ways of engaging our partners in even deeper meaningful ways. Throughout the race, exclusive insights will be shared on what life is like “inside the bubble” as we offer our partners unprecedented access while proudly riding in support of the Qhubeka charity.

2020 marks the 10th year that our organisation has ridden in support of Qhubeka and seen us fund over 30 000 bicycles to people in disadvantaged communities. The power to create positive change through cycling is a cornerstone of our team’s purpose and once again we look forward to being ambassadors for the power that sport has to effect positive change, on the biggest stage of all.

Comments

Vetplant

Aug 18, 2020, 9:18 AM

Interestingly, no Louis Maincheese.

 

Hunting for stage wins then. All the best lads. :thumbup:

Underachiever

Aug 18, 2020, 9:21 AM

Mmmm as expected LM didn't make the cut.  Or is he going to be at the Giro.

Long Wheel Base

Aug 18, 2020, 9:22 AM

No LM. Suppose he will do Giro or Veulta.

Hope Gibbo can take a stage or 2, glad he is ok after his crash.

J Wakefield

Aug 18, 2020, 9:23 AM

Pozzovivo and Gibbons are their best bet for results, hope they support them both as both are going well. 

DieselnDust

Aug 18, 2020, 9:29 AM

No Meintjies

No Dlamini.....:(

Gen

Aug 18, 2020, 9:33 AM

No Meintjies

No Dlamini.....:(

Not sure is Dlamini is 100% ready for 3 weeks racing after his injuries

 

Meintjes..there is no space for sentiment he just isn't good enough and can't offer support for stage wins and I can't see him even getting any himself.

Gen

Aug 18, 2020, 9:34 AM

Pozzovivo and Gibbons are their best bet for results, hope they support them both as both are going well.

Let's hope.

 

Riis isn't an idiot either so I am sure there will be some good results in the mix.

FondTF2

Aug 18, 2020, 9:47 AM

Happy for Gibbons that he made the starting line up. Always nice to see the national jersey displayed on the world tour stage.

 

Lets hope the guys can cause a few upsets.

 

Wishing them the best of luck.

Vetplant

Aug 18, 2020, 9:49 AM

Happy for Gibbons that he made the starting line up. Always nice to see the national jersey displayed on the world tour stage.

 

Lets hope the guys can cause a few upsets.

 

Wishing them the best of luck.

Was brilliant when Impey won that stage last year with the jersey. Here's hoping Gibbons can emulate that!

fanievb

Aug 18, 2020, 9:53 AM

"Africa's Team" 

MarcoSaieva26

Aug 18, 2020, 9:53 AM

Surely Nizzolo will be their go-to guy in the sprints. Between him, Gibbo and Walscheid, I feel like Nizzolo may be the best bet for a stage win.

 

That being said, desperately hope Gibbo finds himself in a position to win with the SA flag on his back.

Dirt Tracker

Aug 18, 2020, 10:03 AM

Not a bad 'minor' team hunting for opportunities. I've not studied the course but with the racing being so full gas the opportunistic stages will either be abundant as it will be chaos or strangled by the bigger teams. 

 

Nizzolo has been there or there about since the restart, Pozzovivo has alot of experience, Boasson Hagen has won before, Valgren needs to show some of the big ticket talent that got him signed and the rest are pretty solid. Would love Gibbons take a win for but it's going to be a fierce battle to the line for the sprinters even though it looks like a few are going to be missing through recent injuries and crashes. Wonder who in the team are looking for a new contract this year? 

Vetplant

Aug 18, 2020, 10:13 AM

Surely Nizzolo will be their go-to guy in the sprints. Between him, Gibbo and Walscheid, I feel like Nizzolo may be the best bet for a stage win.

 

That being said, desperately hope Gibbo finds himself in a position to win with the SA flag on his back.

I think the sprint finishes on the route is varied enough that they can split the opportunities between those three to suit their individual style the best. Spreading your chances over a couple of baskets, with the other two sitting up and reserving their energy for the dash the next day.

 

And would then love to see EBH go into a proper breakaway and outfox them in the final km's.

Marsh00

Aug 18, 2020, 10:30 AM

"Africa's Team" 

 

LOL

TNT1

Aug 18, 2020, 10:42 AM

And would then love to see EBH go into a proper breakaway and outfox them in the final km's.

You'd think with his finishing speed, this is where Gibbons would really shine.

Popit

Aug 18, 2020, 10:44 AM

Very happy to see Gibbons in the team .

I hope they get a stage win , and I hope it is by Gibbons , but he will need some luck to win .

One thing is for sure , he will do the jersey proud .

 

Good luck to NTT !!

Shebeen

Aug 19, 2020, 8:42 AM

"Africa's Team" 

Well i hope they at least got the bikes out

 

29 Jun 2018

SuperSport has today joined Team Dimension Data as media partner, officially supporting the team’s quest for Vision 2020.

At the unveiling of Vision 2020, which incorporates three main goals – getting an African rider to win the Tour de France in 2020; helping Qhubeka distribute 100 000 bicycles; and, Mark Cavendish breaking the Tour de France’s record of total stage wins 

dsw

Aug 19, 2020, 9:40 AM

t is unlikely that any of the sprinters will win a stage at the Tour...They just do not have the quality to compete with the real top sprinters imo. 

 

Perhaps NTT's best chance for success would be to fully support Nizzolo to compete for the green jersey.

 

He is a one of the most consistent sprinters in the field, an climb a bit and has won the points competition previously at  the Giro so I reckon with sufficient dedicated support he might just stand a chance. 

rock

Aug 19, 2020, 2:18 PM

 

 getting an African rider to win the Tour de France in 2020; 

 

 

talk about pressure on Gibbons...

MarcoSaieva26

Aug 23, 2020, 4:46 PM

And Nizzolo has just won the Italian National Champs...

Vetplant

Aug 23, 2020, 4:47 PM

And Nizzolo has just won the Italian National Champs...

That's great.

 

Hope he carries some of that form into the TDF. NTT deserves some TDF success.

betaboy

Sep 12, 2020, 10:28 PM

We just have not produced any GC riders... mostly as our real grass root level of sport BMX racing is not really supported well enough in SA. Want to produce more riders that could one day win tours and big classics? Easy get them racing early, bike skills early... with BMX Racing! not having 11yr olds trying to ride heavy MTB's which BTW... the power to weight ratio is a joke!

I wish Qhubeka a while back looked a little broader and focused on grassroot cycling like BMX racing, maybe then we could expect a bigger crop of riders going big. I mean years and years are passing by and we only produce 2 riders to ride in the TDF? Come on thats a failed system and a broken system that needs an overhaul, but yeah CSA is half the problem.

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