Astana – Premier Tech targets Tour de Suisse podium
Astana – Premier Tech is heading to Switzerland aiming for a podium spot with leader Jakob Fuglsang when the eight-stage race gets underway on Sunday.
The Danish rider will return to the race for the first time since 2018, when he finished second overall.
“After my result in 2018, it is nice to return to the Tour de Suisse, a race I have good memories from. I finished second overall in 2018 and it would be great to repeat it with another podium spot and maybe a stage win”, – says Jakob Fuglsang.
After altitude training camp in Tenerife for the final preparation ahead of the Tour de France, the 2020 Il Lombardia winner feels ready to start the second part of the season.
“I have been in Teide and had a good altitude camp with our Tour de France line up and I’m feeling good after some weeks of intense training sessions. The eight-stage race will kick off my second part of the season and I hope to put in a good performance. We will see how my legs are coming from a race break and altitude camp”, – adds Fuglsang.
Sports Director Bruno Cenghialta returns to racing after guiding the Giro d’Italia squad to a fourth place overall and is confident in the Kazakh-Canadian team at the Tour de Suisse.
“We are coming to Switzerland with a strong line-up. Jakob Fuglsang, Hugo Houle, Omar Fraile, Stefan De Bod and Manuele Boaro are coming straight from our altitude camp in Teide, where they had an intense but good training period. We only have good memories of the Tour de Suisse, Jakob finished second overall in 2018 and with Lopez we were able to win this race in 2016”, – says Bruno Cenghialta.
As every year, the eight-day WorldTour race is also the final test for the upcoming biggest Grand Tour on the race calendar, the Tour de France.
“We are aiming for another podium spot this year, which won´t be easy as, like every year, the best of the best are lining up at this race as it is the final test ahead of the Tour de France”, – adds Cenghialta.
The 84th edition will again be a battle between the best climbers, tackling climbs and passes like the Gotthardpasses, Oberricken or Oberalppass on their way from Frauenfeld to Andermatt with two individual time trials on stages 1 and 7.
Tour de Suisse, 6 – 13 June.
Rider roster: Manuele Boaro (ITA), Stefan De Bod (RSA), Omar Fraile (ESP), Jakob Fuglsang (DEN), Yevgeniy Gidich (KAZ), Hugo Houle (CAN), Jonas Gregaard Wilsly (DEN).
Sports Directors: Bruno Cenghialta (ITA), Sergey Yakovlev (KAZ).