Fernando Gaviria will lead UAE Team Emirates as they continue their early season race programme in Argentina for the Vuelta a San Juan.
As in previous editions, the race offers ample opportunities for the sprinters where Gaviria will be aiming to leave his mark having claimed five stages there since 2017. The race also features a 15.5 time trial on stage 3 which should favour the likes of Tom Bohli and Brandon McNulty.
Last year saw Gaviria win two stages in the mass sprints while Valerio Conti fell just short of the podium with 4th place on GC.
Sports Director Simone Pedrazzini (Swi) will lead the following riders:
Fernando Gaviria (Col)
Maxmiliano Richeze (Arg)
Brandon McNulty (USA)
Oliviero Troia (Ita)
Tom Bohli (Swi)
Juan Sebastian Molano (Col)
Gaviria : “I’m excited to be coming back to race in Argentina. Last year we started the season well here with victory on stage 1. The level of sprinters is always very high so it acts as a good test in the early part of the season. We are coming to the race well prepared. It’s true, this year I will have an extra motivation because Maximiliano Richeze will be by my side. He is a very important person in my career and in UAE Team Emirates we are happy to have him with us. With him in the team, we will have even more encouragement from the fans too, because for them Richeze is an example for the locals.”
Pedrazzini: “With Gaviria in the race and 4 riders to help him in the sprints (Richeze, Molano, Troia and Bohli) we will certainly have responsibilities in the race to bring Fernando to the sprint to try to win as he has often done here in San Juan.Mc Nulty will be our man for the general classification.”
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