Two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and world champion Peter Sagan head Russian team Tinkoff’s assault on the Tour de France which starts this weekend.
The online banking outfit’s owner, Russian magnate Oleg Tinkoff, confidently describes Contador as “the next winner of the Tour de France”.
The 33-year-old Spaniard, taking part in his ninth Tour, will be chiefly assisted by Poland’s Rafal Majka, fifth in the Giro, Czech Republic champion Roman Kreuziger and Robert Kiserlovski.
Contador won the Tour in 2009 but he was stripped of his second win in 2010 after testing positive for the banned stimulant clenbuterol.
Sagan, 26, is seeking his fifth successive green jersey for topping the Tour points classification. The 2015 world champion has won four stages, the last in 2013.
Tinkoff team
Alberto Contador (ESP), Maciej Bodnar (POL), Oscar Gatto (ITA), Robert Kiserlovski (CRO), Roman Kreuziger (CZE), Rafal Majka (POL), Peter Sagan (SVK), Matteo Tosatto (ITA), Michael Valgren (DEN)
– Agence France-Presse
