Sadiq Gill: New Shorts

After LottoNL-Jumbo revealed their Tour de France jersey on Friday, Tinkoff-Saxo have given fans a hint at what theirs will look like in July. Like Lotto, Tinkoff-Saxo have moved away from their predominantly yellow kit to avoid confusion with the Tour’s leader’s jersey. The team did the same last year, going for a more luminous yellow with a green tinge.

The team posted a picture on twitter on Saturday morning of Ivan Basso in an incomplete version of the kit. The usually bright yellow has been toned down, with black replacing the blue highlights on the sleeves and shorts. The team has left the bottom half of the jersey and top half of the shorts blank, asking on twitter: “What color should @sportful fill the white spots in the kit with? Does @ivanbasso like purple?”

Katusha to the Critérium du Dauphiné

Joaquim Rodríguez begins his preparations for the Tour de France as he leads Katusha at the Critérium du Dauphiné. The Dauphiné is the first race for Rodríguez since his third place at Liège-Bastogne-Liège at the end of April. Rodríguez last rode the French race back in 2013 before going on to finish third at the Tour de France a month later.

In 2014, Katusha won two stages with Yuri Trofimov and Simon Spilak, however they will not be returning to the race this season. Instead, Rodríguez will be supported by Giampaolo Caruso, Vladimir Isaychev, Alberto Losdado, Tiago Machado, Alexey Tsatevich, Angel Vicioso and Gatis Smukulis.

Europcar confirm five for the Tour

With just under a month until the Tour de France gets underway, Europcar have confirmed five of the riders that will line-up in Utrecht. Romain Sicard, Pierre Rolland, Cyril Gautier, Thomas Voeckler and Bryan Coquard all have definite spots in the nine-man squad for the French Grand Tour, leaving four places still up for grabs. The Tour de France is the only Grand Tour that Europcar will compete in this season after losing their position in the WorldTour.

Of the five riders confirmed for the Tour, four will be riding the Critérium du Dauphiné and the team has big ambitions.“Pierre Rolland will be team leader, with Cyril Gautier and Thomas Voeckler as road captains.

This year, Romain Sicard‘s preparation for the Tour de France has been ideal, so we expect him to do well,” explained directeur sportif Andy Flickinger.

“It’s a good course for us, quite mountainous, with just one time trial per team which shouldn’t cause any huge differences. You have to be on form every day, which makes the race difficult,” said Flickinger “The big teams will not want to win the first day to avoid having to be burdened with the jersey from the start. There’s an opportunity for us to take from the very first stage.”

Romain Guillemois and Yannick Martinez, Cyril Gautier and Bryan Naulleau are the other half of Europcar’s Dauphiné line-up.

Live coverage of the Dauphiné

Cyclingnews will have live coverage of every stage the Critérium du Dauphiné, as many of the key general classification riders test themselves one last time before the Tour de France. This year’s Critérium du Dauphiné sees Vincenzo Nibali and Chris Froome go up against defending champion Andrew Talansky.
Join Cyclingnews at 10am BST for the 131.5-kilometre first stage from Ugine to Albertville.