A well-rounded Trek-Segafredo team will travel to the 74th Vuelta to target stage success.
Trek-Segafredo is pleased to announce its complete line-up for the 2019 Vuelta a España. The final Grand Tour of the year starts on Saturday 24th August and will conclude on Sunday 15th September.
Ten-time stage winner John Degenkolb will be returning to Spain looking to add to his tally. Joining him will be Belgian sprinter Edward Theuns, who has been finishing well at the Binck Bank Tour. The two sprinters will be joined by versatile riders Kiel Reijnen and Alex Kirsch who will play a crucial role in getting the fast men into the best possible position in the final kilometers.
“John Degenkolb has been training really hard in altitude. He recently rode the Tour de Pologne in preparation to find the speed and spirit of the sprint. John did some good results there, but he needs more, and for this, we hope he will achieve good results in the Vuelta,” explained director Yaroslav Popovych.
“We have two versatile riders in Kiel Reijnen, and Grand Tour rookie Alex Kirsch who together will be playing a crucial role in helping John and Edward get in a good position in the last kilometers for the sprints. Alex will have a free card on some stages where he can go in the breakaway to try for a stage also, if a chance comes for Kiel to go in a breakaway then why not, because he has a fast finish.”
We do not go to this Vuelta with a team built around a single leader. Rather, we are taking a very complete team who can be competitive in all types of stages.
Edward Theuns has been showing recently that he is going well with some good sprints at the Binck Bank Tour. He is in good condition and hungry for victory, and we will help him to try and make this dream a reality. For sure, Edward and John will work together for the sprint stages. We will look at each stage finish and see which rider it suits best.
- Yaroslav Popovych
The Vuelta is well-known for its challenging parcours and brutal acsents. To target these hillier stages the team will field climbers Gianluca Brambilla, Peter Stetina and Niklas Eg. They have all shown promising form ahead of the Grand Tour, especially the young Dane who has recently achieved multiple podiums at the Tour of Utah and currently sits in 3rd place overall.
“We are hoping for some nice results with our climbers on the hilly stages,” continued Popopvych. “Gianluca has recently shown he has some good condition with a strong final stage in Poland, while Peter and Niklas are riding strongly at the Tour of Utah. Niklas is a young rider with still a lot to learn, and this is an excellent opportunity for him to gain more experience.”
To complete the line-up is all-rounder Jacopo Mosca, who recently signed with the team for the remainder of the year. The young Italian was a stagiaire with the team in 2016 and is eager to make the most of another chance to prove his worth.
“Finally, we have Jacopo Mosca, and this will be a big opportunity for him. We will give him a lot of chances to improve and to show something for the next year,” finished Popovych.
The complete Trek-Segafredo line-up for the Vuelta a España 2019:
Gianluca Brambilla (ITA), John Degenkolb (GER), Niklas Eg (DEN), Alex Kirsch (LUX), Jacopo Mosca (ITA), Kiel Reijnen (USA), Peter Stetina (USA), Edward Theuns (BEL).
