Poels and Teunissen start in the Ride to the Sun | 1Limburg

Both Limburg cyclists will support their leaders in the hunt for the overall victory in the Ride to the Sun, as this race is also called.

leaders
Wout Poels will assist Team Bahrain-Victorious Jack Haig. Mike Teunissen and his teammates go to Team Jumbo-Visma for a final victory for leader Primož Roglic.

Poels is in shape
With the team of Wout Poels, Jack Haig is put forward as a rider for the classification. Sports director of Team Bahrain-Victorious, Neil Stephens, says that an excellent Wout Poels must also be taken into account: “Wout Poels is in really good shape. He has just won the Ruta del Sol.” Poels must support leader Haig in the mountain stages together with Gino Mader. If the opportunity presents itself, Poels will also be able to drive for his own success, just like in the Ruta del Sol he recently won.

Towards final victory in 2018
In 2018 Poels seemed to be on his way to a top ranking in Paris-Nice. He won the fourth stage and thus settled in second place in the general classification. In the sixth stage from Sisteronne to Vence, Poels went hunting for the leader’s jersey, but crashed and had to stop the battle.

Mike Teunissen
With Mike Teunissen’s team, Team Jumbo-Visma, everything will be devoted to helping Primož Roglic to the final victory. Last year the Slovenian seemed to be on his way to the overall win, a crash in the last stage thwarted that success.

Sharpen classic shape
In addition to assisting his leader, this course is also important for Mike Teunissen in his preparation for the classic spring. Teunissen can further sharpen his form for the approaching races in this race. After Paris-Nice, the rider from Ysselsteyn has the classics Milan-San Remo, Gent-Wevelgem, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix on the program.

sprinters
The first two stages in Paris-Nice are traditionally a prey for the sprinters. Only in the third stage are the riders presented with a more difficult course. Still, on Tuesday, sprinters who survive the climb of the Côte de Le Peyroux, 25 kilometers from the finish in Dun-le-Palestel, will have a chance of success for the day.

mountain rides
A short but vicious time trial is scheduled for Wednesday. Especially the last part of the thirteen kilometer ride against the clock is quite tough. The last 750 meters go up steeply with peaks of up to 14 percent. The classification will be mixed up after this time trial. From Thursday, this edition of the Ride to the Sun is right up the alley of real climbers. In four days, no fewer than 17 cols have to be climbed, before the riders will see the sea in the finish place Nice on Sunday.