Giant-Alpecin have been in the limelight this week with Tom Dumoulin winning the prologue and the Giro d’Italia and wearing the maglia rosa for the next two days.
Another select group from the team will head to the United States to take on the Amgen Tour of California. The 2016 parcours offers a scenic but difficult route with a total distance of nearly 1300km to cover including the race’s iconic ascent the Gibraltar Road in Santa Barbara County.
"The Amgen Tour of California is an exciting race with quite a few tricky stages where late attacks could avoid a bunch sprint,” said Giant-Alpecin team coach, Aike Visbeek.
“It is also important to be aware of certain circumstances, such as the crosswinds or the heat. Overall, it's a challenging course that should suit the all-rounders instead of the pure climbers.”
The Giant-Alpecin line up includes: Søren Kragh Andersen, Roy Curvers, Laurens Ten Dam, John Degenkolb, Caleb Fairly, Koen de Kort, Sindre Skjøstad Lunke and Ramon Sinkeldam.
"For the overall classification, we will focus on Laurens and I expect a fight for every second all the way to Sacramento. For stage results we have several options, primarily with Ramon in a possible bunch sprint,” said Visbeek.
"For John is all about gaining race rhythm and there is no immediate pressure for him to deliver results."
Degenkolb, who won the Paris-Roubaix and the Milan San Remo last year, was one of six members of the team who were hit by a car driving on the wrong side of the road during a training ride in January.
Degenkolb suffered from a fractured forearm and damaged hand and was forced to miss the classics season. He made a return to top level racing with the Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt in Germany in May, but did not finish the race.
SBS will broadcast the every stage of Amgen Tour of California online and on SBS2.
All times are AEST. Please check your local guides for SBS2 TV details.
Monday 16 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Tuesday 17 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Wednesday 18 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Thursday 19 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Friday 20 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Saturday 21 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
Sunday 22 May 2016
0700 - 0900 AEST
