McCarthy makes Tour de France long list for Bora-Hansgrohe

Australian Jay McCarthy is in the mix to start his first Tour de France with BORA-Hansgrohe announcing its 14-man long list for the big race.

Jay McCarthy had some good legs in Australian racing this year. Source: Getty

UCI World Champion Peter Sagan and climber Rafal Majka are set to be the team leaders for the Tour de France 2017 and it will be interesting to see if McCarthy is picked as a support rider for Majka's GC aspirations and Sagan's stage-hunting. 

The Australian has enjoyed a solid season without that real breakthrough result and will be hoping that he gets an opportunity to make his mark on the Tour de France.

McCarthy is set to ride the Tour de Suisse in preparation after which the final selection is to be made on the Tour de France squad. 

BORA-Hansgrohe team manager Ralph Denk talked about the largely German-based squad racing with the Tour set to depart from Dusseldorf.

“It’s always a hard decision, everybody wants to ride the Tour de France," said Denk. "Especially this year with the Grand Départ in Düsseldorf, it will be a lifetime memory for every German rider and a stepping stone for German cycling.

"In our long list, we have 50% riders from Germany, but of course the best riders will be on the start in Düsseldorf at the end. Still I am proud that 7 German riders are on our list today.

"With Peter and Rafal we have ambitious goals, the green jersey, a top five result in the GC and the first stage win for our team at the Tour de France. And I think we have a strong roster to achieve those goals.” 

 

BORA – hansgrohe Tour de France long list:

 

Bodnar Maciej (Pol)

Buchmann Emanuel (Ger)

Burghardt Marcus (Ger)

König Leopold (Ger)

Konrad Patrick (Aut)

Majka Rafał (Pol)

McCarthy Jay (Aus)

Pfingsten Christoph (Ger)

Poljański Paweł (Pol)

Sagan Juraj (Svk)

Sagan Peter (Svk)

Schillinger Andreas (Ger)

Schwarzmann Michael (Ger)

Selig Rüdiger (Ger)