Cycling: The choice of the NetApp-Endura team for the Tour de France has been made. Nine drivers can be happy. There are no surprises in the squad.
With Andreas Schillinger and Paul Voss, two Germans can look forward to their debut in the Tour of France. At the head of the squad, however, is someone else. The Czech Leopold König, who impressed at the Vuelta last year, will lead the Raublinger racing team on the tour. It's also the tour premiere for him.
“We drive to the tour with the necessary respect but with self-confidence. The most successful first half of the season in our team's history is behind us and of course the boys are extremely motivated. Our first goal was to finish in the top 15 overall with Leo König. With de la Cruz, Huzarski, Machado and Mendes, we have four climbers to support him. We also want to get involved in the fight for a stage win. With Barta and Dempster as well as our German veterans Schillinger and Voss, we also have very good options for the profiled stages.", according to team manager Ralph Denk on the team's website.
In France, NetApp-Endura would like to continue the success of the Vuelta 2013. Here König managed to win a stage and ended up ninth in the overall standings. But there will certainly also be opportunities for the group of aggressive rouleurs in the team.
The team
Jan Barta (29 / CZE)
David de la Cruz (25 / ESP)
Zak Dempster (26 / AUS)
Bartosz Huzarski (33 / POL)
Leopold Koenig (26 / CZE), Tiago Machado (28 / POR)
Jose Mendes (29 / POR)
Andreas Schillinger (30 / GER)
Paul Voss (28 / GER)