AG2R LA MONDIALE RETURNS FOR THEIR 20th TDU APPEARANCE
French team Ag2r La Mondiale will return to Adelaide next month for its 20th appearance at the Santos Tour Down Under in 2018 – the only team to have competed in every event since the inaugural race in 1999. The team has produced four overall event winners, as well as taking out the Winning Team Classification twice. Race Director, Mike Turtur said a team with such a great history with the event would not fail to disappoint fans again next January. “Once again we expect Ag2r La Mondiale to be very competitive.
We all know their history at our race, producing the most Santos Tour Down Under overall winners, with Gilles Maignan in 2000, Mikel Astarloza in 2003, Australia’s Simon Gerrans in 2006 and most recently Martin Elmiger in 2007,” he said. “The team sets solid foundations with their riders – I mean, you only have to look at the success Simon Gerrans has had since his first win in Adelaide. He’s the only rider to have won the Santos Tour Down Under four times.” “We saw Mikael Cherel finish 10th overall in the GC in 2009 so will be keen to see what he can do to make an impact on the race once again,” said Mike Turtur.
Led by experienced team manager, Laurent Biondi, the Ag2r La Mondiale is the only team to have competed in all editions of the TDU and has taken out the overall winning team classification at the 2000 and 2010 Santos Tour Down Under events. The Ag2R La Mondiale team taking to the start line at the 2018 Santos Tour Down Under will be made up of seven riders featuring Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg), Mikael Cherel (France), Matteo Montaguti (Italy), Pierre Latour (France), Nans Peters (France), Stijn Vandenbergh (Belgium) and Axel Domont (France).
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