Every year we have a bunch of debutantes making their first steps in the biggest and best grand tour of the lot. This year is no exception but, this year, we have an incredibly talented pool of Tour virgins who also qualify for the white jersey, I have listed them all here along with a brief description of what the race might hold for them.
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| Kudus is one of 2 Eritreans on the Tour. |
Country: Eritrea
Team: MTN-Qhubeka
Age: 21
GT Experience: 92nd 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: Youngest rider on the Tour and a fantastic climber who will ride in support of Louis Meintjes and may be given is own chances later in the race.
Florian Senechal
Country: France
Team: Cofidis
Age: 22
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: Very strong classics style rider, he will be targeting the first week, look to see him on the attack in the cobbled stage.
Adam Yates
Country: Great Britain
Team: Orica GreenEDGE
Age: 22
GT Experience: 82nd 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: He will probably be deployed to ride in support of his brother but he might have his own chances on the mountainous stages.
Dylan Van Baarle
Country: Netherlands
Team: Cannondale-Garmin
Age: 23
GT Experience: DNF 2014 Giro
What to expect in a sentence: Tour of Britain winner last year and strong time trialler, could be a top 10 on the opening stage.
Louis Meintjes
Country: South Africa
Team: MTN-Qhubeka
Age: 23
GT Experience: 55th 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: Unbelievable talent, he will have the support of his team and a top 10 overall certainly isn’t out of reach.
Christophe Laporte
Country: France
Team: Cofidis
Age: 23
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: A bit of an unknown quantity, he showed some good form earlier in the season on the hilly races so expect him to go well in the first week.
Bob Jungels
Country: Luxembourg
Team: Trek Factory Racing
Age: 23
GT Experience: DNF 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: He comes complete with the Luxembourg time trial and road race champion’s jersey and he has a good chance of a high GC placing after the first week.
Emmanuel Buchmann
Country: Germany
Team: Bora-Argon 18
Age: 22
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: Surprise German national road champion and excellent climber, came 7th on the stage to La Toussuire in last years Tour de l’Avenir.
Michael Valgren
Country: Denmark
Team: Tinkoff-Saxo
Age: 23
GT Experience: 128th 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: Good rider in the hilly classics but he will be used to shepherd Contador through the difficult first week.
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| Wellens is already a classy all rounder |
Tim Wellens
Country: Belgium
Team: Lotto-Soudal
Age: 24
GT Experience: 54th 2014 Giro
What to expect in a sentence: Very classy rider, winner of the Eneco Tour and 4th in Lombardy last season, he will be giving freedom because the team don’t have a GC threat.
Eduardo Sepulveda
Country: Argentina
Team; Bretagne Seche Environment
Age: 24
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: Missed out on his debut Tour last year with illness, he should be the protected GC rider for this small French team.
Wilco Kelderman
Country: Netherlands
Team: LottoNL-Jumbo
Age: 24
GT Experience: 17th 2013 Giro, 7th 2014 Giro, 14th 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: The current Dutch time trial champion, LottoNL-Jumbo have a woeful record so far this season and it will be interesting to see who they support for the overall.
Marco Haller
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| Marco has already tasted overall success at the Tour des Fjords this year. |
Country: Austria
Team: Katusha
Age: 24
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: He has been on remarkable form in the last few months and capped it off by winning the National championships, the first week suits him best.
Warren Barguil
Country: France
Team: Giant-Alpecin
Age: 23
GT Experience: 38th 2013 Vuelta, 8th 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: There’s huge pressure on the Frenchman’s shoulders, he has been talked up as the next Tour de France winner from France but he’s had an indifferent season so far, don’t write him off.
Kenneth Vanbilsen
Country: Belgium
Team: Cofidis
Age: 25
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: There’s not a huge amount to recommend Vanbilsen, he has got a decent sprint on him so maybe he will be used in Bouhanni’s leadout.
Angelo Tulik
Country: France
Team: Europcar
Age: 24
GT Experience: 123rd 2014 Giro
What to expect in a sentence: Slots nicely into Europcar’s Tour strategy, which is to get into breakaways and hope that one of them stays away until the end of the stage.
Luke Rowe
Country: Great Britain
Team: Sky
Age: 25
GT Experience: DNF 2013 Vuelta, 141st 2014 Vuelta
What to expect in a sentence: The Welshman is purely there to guide Froome through the difficult, classic’s style opening stages, he’ll then be there to do the early pace setting later on.
Georg Priedler
Country: Austria
Team: Giant-Alpecin
Age: 25
GT Experience: 36th 2013 Vuelta, 27th 2014 Giro
What to expect in a sentence: The newly crowned Austrian time trial champion is a very handy climber and should be used in support of Barguil.
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| Matthews is a prolific winner at the Vuelta and Giro |
Michael Matthews
Country: Australia
Team: Orica-GreenEDGE
Age: 25
GT Experience: 110th 2013 Vuelta, DNF 2014 Giro, 7th 2014 Vuelta, DNF 2015 Giro
What to expect in a sentence: Amazingly Matthews is yet to start the Tour but he’s won 5 stages in the Giro and Vuelta combined and he is one of the favourites for the green jersey.
Sam Bennett
Country: Ireland
Team: Bora-Argon 18
Age: 24
GT Experience: None
What to expect in a sentence: Bennett is an incredible sprinting talent but it’s probably a little too early in his career to expect a stage win, he goes very well in the wind so he might be able to get some podium places in the opening week.
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