AG2R La Mondiale will ride on Adelaide and South Australian roads again in 2017 at the Santos Tour Down Under as the only UCI WorldTour team to compete at every edition of the event.
Ag2R has also produced the most overall winners of the Santos Tour Down Under, taking out honours in 2000 (Gilles Maignan), 2003 (Mikel Astarloza), 2006 (Simon Gerrans) and 2007 (Martin Elmiger).
In 2017 the team will be led by Jan Bakelants.
“It’s great to know that Ag2R will be on the start line again for the Santos Tour Down Under – they are a familiar and popular team among spectators,” race director Mike Turtur said. “Aside from their four individual Santos Tour Down Under victories, Ag2R was the overall winning team at the 2000 and 2010 events.
“Italian rider Domenico Pozzovivo is on the roster for the 2017 event after a commendable 2016 season where he finished 20th at Giro d’Italia. Jan Bakelants has a few one-day victories to his name, and it will be great to see him in action in Adelaide for the third time.”
Ag2R has recently completed an entire team training camp in Gandia (Spain) for 10 days to refine its unity and equipment.
“We (had) busy days working on the cohesion of the whole group and making any necessary adjustments with the equipment,” Ag2R La Mondiale general manager Vincent Lavenu said.
The team Ag2R La Mondiale rider roster for the 2017 Santos Tour Down Under will be led by sport director Laurent Biondi and includes riders Jan Bakelants (Belgium), Julien Berard (France), Francois Bidard (France), Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg), Clement Chevrier (France), Matteo Montaguti (Italy) and Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy).
