Several riders vying to be part of Team Sky’s Tour de France lineup are seeking strong performances in the Tour of Luxembourg.
Eight years ago, Marcus Ljungqvist took overall victory in the race; the goal of the 35 year old Swedish directeur sportif is now to aid the riders in his charge to go as close as possible to achieving the same result.
"We have a really strong team here,” he said on the team’s website. “The likes of Kjell Carlström, Simon Gerrans, Thomas Löfkvist, Serge Pauwels and Ian Stannard have not raced for a while but they've been doing a lot of good training in the last month. Everyone is really up for it.”
Gerrans is a stage winner in the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia, and is a very punchy rider who could do well on the parcours of the Luxembourg event. Löfkvist is another classy rider, who was winner of the Monte Paschi Eroica and runner up in the Criterium International.
The others are also strong professionals, and together should play a big part.
Thus far, British rider Bradley Wiggins seems to be the only absolute certainty for a Tour de France slot on the team. He finished the Giro d’Italia on Sunday with a stage win to his credit, and is not scheduled to race in June. That leaves eight slots to be filled, though.
The management will undoubtedly already have other riders in mind, but races like the Tour de Luxembourg give those on the team a chance to push the case for their inclusion on the nine-man squad.
"The Tour de France is getting close now and the guys obviously know that, so they will all want to have a good race,” explained Ljungqvist, knowing that this will add further motivation.
"We have guys who are capable of riding a good prologue, and a good GC, so we will see what happens on Wednesday and then take things from there. It will be interesting to see how things go."
The team will be up against a host of big names, including defending champion Frank Schleck (Saxo Bank) and multiple Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong (RadioShack). Today’s prologue is a very short, sharp test, then the GC contenders will emerge over the four road race stages.
Ljungqvist and Kurt-Asle Arvesen have checked out the route for tomorrow’s race to Hesperange, and his prior knowledge of the event means that he has a good understanding of what lies ahead.
"The prologue looks like it's going to be a tough one because there is a cobbled section and some pretty tight corners in the city centre,” he said. “The first stage is the new one which could possibly end in a sprint, while the final three stages all throw up their own challenges. Friday is probably the toughest of the tour because it has a lot of short, steep climbs.
"There are testing climbs like those every day though and a lot of the racing is on narrow country roads. It's a bit like Classics riding in a way - it can be stressful and every second counts." He’ll be hoping that his experience will help the Team Sky riders make the most of every opportunity, and thus be up there in the thick of the action.