Aboard their Giant bicycles and spearheaded by the 2017 Giro d’Italia champion, Tom Dumoulin, Team Sunweb line up for the Tour de France with one seriously impressive looking team. Sights are set on a yellow jersey challenge, as well as a defence of green and polka-dots. Can the boys from Team Sunweb pull of another major coup this July?
Maintaining momentum
Following their best ever season in 2017 – Giro d’Italia overall victory as well as wins in the points and King of the Mountains classifications in July, not forgetting team time trial World Championship gold – Team Sunweb came storming into 2018 looking to replicate their feats from last year. So far, they have come agonisingly close to defending their Giro title with Tom Dumoulin narrowly edged out by Chris Froome inside the final few frantic days of racing. Momentum bodes well, however, with one of the most impressive line-ups in the entire race ready to take the start in Vendée on France’s west coast.
Forget the triple threat of Movistar or the foreboding mechanisation of Team Sky, Team Sunweb are packed to the rafters with stage racing talent, Tom Dumoulin leading a squad that also includes veteran, Laurens Ten Dem, Tour de France stage winner, Simon Geschke, and defending green jersey champion, Michael Matthews.
Targeting stage wins as well as a high place overall,Team Sunweb will be looking to their range of Giant bicycles as they aim to conquer the varying terrain of the 2018 route. From wind ravaged coastal roads to gruesome pavé and arduous climbs, Giant bikes will be stomping all over them.
A bike for any kind of stage
With 21 gruelling stages to wage war upon, over 3,000km of unforgiving roads and 180 riders all vying for victory of some kind, the Tour de France can understandably get a little hectic. Riders and mechanics will work tirelessly before every stage to fine tune their setup for the day ahead. Mountains, cobbles or long open boulevards, the Sunweb riders will have a bike to conquer all three.
For the sprints, Michael Matthews has the pearly Giant Propel Advanced at his disposal, Giant’s super aero and unfathomably fast speed machine. With an integrated cockpit and tapered frame, the Propel cuts through the air like a hot knife through butter, giving Matthews the edge over his rivals as he looks to defend the green jersey title.
Matthews, alongside the team’s cobbled specialists, Nikias Arndt and Edward Theuns, will be aiming for a high placing in stage 9’s much-anticipated cobble showdown, a 150km slog from Arras to Roubaix. The riders will look to Giant’s Defy Advanced for this stage, its more relaxed, endurance-style geometry making the bone-shaking ride over the cobblestones that little bit more comfortable.
As the race hits the high mountains it will be the turn of team leader and Dutch cycling sensation, Tom Dumoulin, to take to the stage. He and his mountain domestiques, Chad Haga, Simon Geschke and Laurens Ten Dam, will show off the versatile Giant TCR Advanced.
A lightweight climbing monster that makes no compromise on stiffness and compliance, the TCR Advanced allows its rider to hammer both the uphill and the downhill. The ultimate Grand Tour racer, the TCR has already been piloted to three-week glory, now even hungrier to snatch more titles this July to add to its growing list of stage racing accolades.
Make sure to look out for Team Sunweb this July, ripping up the roads of the Tour de France as they look to make a clean sweep of yellow, green and maybe even polka-dot. For a look at more bikes in Bicycle Chain’s Giant range, click here.
