Liv AlUla Jayco will head to Switzerland full of climbing talent and punchy power as they take on the eighth edition of the women’s Tour de Suisse.
Norwegian Ingvild Gåskjenn returns to the fold after a breakout spring campaign that saw her take a podium at the Amstel Gold Race before a string of top-five finishes at the Vuelta Espana Femenina. The team are more than prepared for the Swiss hills with Urška Žigart and Caroline Andersson both in action over the four days of racing.
Amber Pate and Jeanne Korevaar will back up from the recent Tour Britain, with the pair playing a key role in a successful four days of racing for the team. Quinty Ton will round out the team as the Dutch rider continues her comeback from an early season injury.
Liv AlUla Jayco for the Tour de Suisse:
Caroline Andersson (SWE)
Ingvild Gåskjenn (NOR)
Jeanne Korevaar (NED)
Amber Pate (AUS)
Quinty Ton (NED)
Urška Žigart (NED)
Urška Žigart:
“I’ve had a bit of rest since Itzulia, then started to build back up again and finished with a little altitude camp at Isola 2000. It’s just a short drive away from Nice so it’s perfect and hopefully gives me a little boost ahead of this block of racing. I’m excited to come back to Tour of Suisse!
The course this year looks tough, with lots of climbing on the menu and I’m looking forward to it. The first stage is short but with a long mountain top finish, where the differences will already be made. The next day is the day I’m looking forward to the most with a mountain TT. I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself, but it’s definitely something that suits me. The last two days also have a lot of elevation meters to conquer, but it’s more balanced and the finish might be for a bit faster finishers. We have a great team here to cover all the terrains, from tough climbs to being fast in a sprint.
We’re coming here very motivated with high goals. We’ve showed in the last few races that we’re a force to be reckoned with and we’ll carry this into Tour of Suisse as well. Like I said before, we have such a strong team here so we can play multiple cards and continue with aggressive racing which has proven to be very successful for us in recent races.”
Wim Stroelinga (Sport Director):
“The main focus for the race is to have a stage win and after the first two stages we will see if we are up there on GC. Stage three and four we have chances to win in several situations, we have strong riders who can finish it off in a break and Ingvild who can win a sprint in a reduced group.
We see that the motivation is there, and we are in a good flow with the whole team, they want to work for each other, and they all know that a win is a team achievement, which is really good and nice to see. For sure it’s helping that everybody is doing so well, and it lifts the level of everyone, mentally and physically.
Also, a big compliment to the staff that’s around the races, without the professional approach of them it would have been harder to get results.“
Photo: Sprint Cycling
