Similar to UAE Emirates, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale also did not feature any surprises in its selection for the Giro d'Italia (May 4-26). The French WorldTour team is targeting podium candidate Ben O'Connor, and the Australian is supported by an impressively strong climbing team.
This season, O'Connor is riding the positive AG2R wave. The French team underwent a complete makeover in January, which included opting for new equipment, which immediately paid off. The team has already racked up twelve victories, two of which were directly achieved by O'Connor. The Australian put himself in the spotlight early on with wins in Mallorca and the UAE Tour, and then performed exceptionally well in the Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of the Alps, where he narrowly missed out on the overall victory to the Spaniard Juan Pedro Lopez (Lidl-Trek).
"The preparation has been spot on," O'Connor stated in the press release. "Nothing is going wrong and every race before the Giro, so far, is going well. The fifth place in Tirreno-Adriatico shows that I was there to fight with the best in the race. We’ve got a pretty well-rounded team, the way the boys have been performing recently shows that they are in form and also ready. It should be a good time and I think we’re prepared for the race."
Decathlon AG2R still has trump cards in Valentin Paret-Peintre and Andrea Vendrame
In the Tour of the Alps, Valentin Paret-Peintre was particularly impressive on the climbs. The brother of Aurélien Paret-Peintre shone with four top-ten finishes out of the five stages and also placed fourth overall. The 23-year-old Frenchman is back again, alongside his five-year-older brother, who won a stage in the Giro last year, as well as compatriots Alex Baudin, Damien Touzé and Bastien Tronchon. Italian Andrea Vendrame will have his chances in the flat stages, while American Larry Warbasse takes on the role of road captain.
"Valentin has stepped up and shown that he can climb very well with the best riders while maintaining a good burst of speed for fast finishes. It’s been cool to see our team working effectively to achieve the best GC result possible. Larry will be there as a road captain. He's also such a good guy, we’ve spent more or less a month together since April during the high-altitude training, I’ve got a great friendship with him and it’s always cool to share it with a friend. Another journey is coming up through May and it’s nice to do it with this team."
Selection Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale Giro d'Italia 2024
Ben O'Connor
Alex Baudin
Aurelien Paret-Peintre
Valentin Paret-Peintre
Damien Touzé
Bastien Tronchon
Andrea Vendrame
Larry Warbasse
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