Criterium International starts today

A busy week of cycling continues today with the 85th edition of the Criterium International. The race will have two stages on Saturday and one on Sunday.

On Saturday morning the teams will line up for a 90.5 KM flat stage which will start and finish in Porto-Vecchio. In the afternoon, the riders will run on a 7 KM course in an Individual Time Trial. On Sunday we will have the decisive stage which will finish on Col de L`Ospedale after 171 KM of racing.

Some teams will bring their line-up from Dwars door Vlaanderen straight to France for the race. Team Giant-Alpecin is one of those. Their coach, Arthur van Dongen, had his say on the upcoming race:

“We start Critérium International with the same team as Dwars door Vlaanderen. We have an opportunist line-up for the two-day race that will be looking to take what chances arise. The young riders we take to France will get the opportunity to develop themselves and explore their general classification potential with no immediate pressure for results. The race will be decided on the last day with the 14.1km uphill finish to the Col de L’Ospedale.”

Team Giant-Alpecin line-up for Criterium International: Caleb Fairly (USA), Chad Haga (USA), Cheng Ji (CHN), Carter Jones (USA), Fredrik Ludvigsson (SWE), Sam Oomen (NED)