New commitment in France with a decisive time trial to decide the overall victory

35º Tour du Poitou-Charentes
From 24 to 27 August

A time trial of 23,5 kilometres emerges as the crucial moment for the resolution of a new edition of the Tour de Poitou-Charentes, second consecutive competitive commitment for the EOLO-KOMETA Cycling Team on French soil. Beyond the time trial test, which will come in the second sector of the third stage, the race is a usual hunting ground for sprinters and opportunistic riders with a good top speed.

With such a clear framework, the ProTeam structure of the Contador Foundation will go with a team of good sprinters, cyclists with speed and riders who can defend themselves well in the fight against the clock. The Tour de Poitou-Charentes will see the competitive return of John Archibald, a good time trial specialist with good recent performances in races in Great Britain. Current champion of the discipline in his country, also sweet moment with very high morale for him, Erik Fetter will also compete in France.

Italian Manuel Belletti returns to the Tour de Poitou-Charentes, a rider who with his experience will be an important part of a line-up completed by Spanish rider Diego Pablo Sevilla and Italians Davide Bais, Samuele Rivi and Luca Wackermann.

John Archibald: “I feel good. I’ve just won the UK National 25-mile time trial, so the feeling on the goat is good. Coach Carlos Barredo has been giving me more sessions lately and I’m feeling good. It’s been a while since I took part in a UCI class race, the last one was the Vuelta a Asturias in May, so I’ll have to wait until this race to see how my form really is and how I assimilate the competition”.

The stages
24 August: Pons – Parthenay (198.4 km).

25th August: Parthenay – Ruffec (193.6 km).

26 August (a): Moncontour – Loudun (109.6 km).

26 August (b): Monts-sur-Guesnes – Loudun (23.5 km ITT).

27 August: Villefagnan – Poitiers (166.5 km).