Giant-Shimano: La Course by Le Tour de France

By Press Release On Jul 21, 2014

For the first time ever the professional women’s peloton will race down the Champs Élysées, and Team Giant-Shimano will be involved.

It will be the first chance for both the men’s and women’s teams to challenge for sprint victory on the same circuit, and with Kirsten Wild (NED) lining up in Paris the team have one of the fastest women in the race.

Wild has not raced on the road for several weeks now after a period of racing and training on the track, and she is joined by Willeke Knol (NED), Amy Pieters (NED) and Julia Soek (NED) who come out of racing the Giro Rosa followed by the BeNe Ladies Tour. The line-up is then completed by Sara Mustonen (SWE) and Maaike Polspoel (BEL) who both add fire power to the team.

This new one-day race in Paris is a step forward for women’s cycling and as a result will draw the biggest names with everyone wanting to take the win in the first edition of the race just hours before the Tour de France comes to an end in the French capital.

“This race is going to be like the world championships for teams rather than countries,” said team coach Hans Timmermans (NED). “It is going to be one of the biggest women’s races ever and it will be great to be a part of it.

“The team will never have raced in front of this many supporters before so it will be a great experience for them. It will be interesting to see how the race evolves but with Kirsten we have one of the best sprinters in the world, and we have a strong team around her capable of forming a sprint formation to get her in the best position possible if the race comes down to a bunch finish.

“We have a strong plan for this and it will be bolstered by input from the WorldTour team coaches later in the week to make the most of their experience and knowledge of racing here.”

RACE
La Course by Le Tour de France (1.1)

DATE
27/07/2014

WEBSITE
https://www.letour.com/la-course-by-le-tour-de-france/2014/us/

LINE-UP
Willeke Knol (NED)
Sara Mustonen (SWE)
Amy Pieters (NED)
Maaike Polspoel (BEL)
Julia Soek (NED)
Kirsten Wild (NED)

COACH
Hans Timmermans (NED)

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