CYCLING-TOUR/BMC-MOVISTAR BMC’s Van Garderen excited for “homecoming” Dutch Tour De France start

Record ID: 148670

  • Title: CYCLING-TOUR/BMC-MOVISTAR BMC’s Van Garderen excited for “homecoming” Dutch Tour De France start
  • Date: 2nd July 2015
  • Summary: DE BILT, THE NETHERLANDS (JULY 2, 2015) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF BMC RACING TEAM CYCLISTS IN FRONT OF BMC TRUCK, PREPARING FOR MORNING TRAINING SESSION VARIOUS OF BMC RACING TEAM'S AMERICAN CYCLIST, TEJAY VAN GARDEREN (SOUNDBITE) (English) BMC RACING TEAM CYCLIST, TEJAY VAN GARDEREN, SAYING: "A couple of years, a few years ago, riding for a Rabobank continental team, I used to
  • Embargoed: 17th July 2015 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Netherlands
  • Country: Netherlands
  • Topics: General
  • Reuters ID: LVA7JWC8NMID8COHFJGHT02Z5D7H
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: The world's leading cycling teams were making their final preparations in the Netherlands on Thursday (July 2) before the Tour de France's Grand Depart in Utrecht on Saturday (July 4).
    The contest begins with an individual time trial, with riders travelling 13.7 kilometres through Utrecht at full speed, before concluding in Paris after 21 days and 3,360 kilometres.
    It will be the sixth time the Netherlands, a country which boasts more bicycles than residents, has hosted the tour.
    BMC Racing Team's Tejay van Garderen, the race's best under-25 rider in 2012, told Reuters Television the contest in the Netherlands held a personal significance.
    "A couple of years, a few years ago, riding for a Rabobank continental team, I used to live in a town off Alphen Aan De Rijn, just 20 kilometres from here, so it's a little bit of a homecoming. It feels pretty special," he said.
    Just a few metres away, one of Van Garderen's biggest rivals in the contest, Movistar's Nairo Quintana, also prepared for a morning training session. After skipping the race last year to focus on the Giro d'Italia, which he won, Quintana is back on the Tour with a good chance of becoming the first Colombian to prevail. A remarkable bike handler, he likes to launch long-range attacks in the mountains, which could prove lethal to his rivals on a very hard course.
    The Tour's cyclists will have to contend with scorching temperatures on Saturday as Europe swelters under a heatwave.
    French FDJ rider Thibaut Pinot, who came third overall last year after having won a stage on his debut in the race in 2012, said the riders would cope with the heat.
    "With the heat, it's summer, you have to make do. I hope it'll be a little cooler during the Tour but it's the Tour, it's summer, you have to make do," he said.
    Consistent performances this season, capped by two prestigious mountain-stage wins in the Tour de Romandie and the Tour de Suisse, have propelled Pinot into contention for a podium finish this year.
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