Scott Thwaites has once again missed out on Tour de France selection after Bora-Argon 18 named their nine-man squad for the race.
Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Thwaites had targeted a Tour place this season after narrowly missing out on a debut when the race started in his home county of Yorkshire last year.
But while Irish sprinter Sam Bennett will make his Tour debut, Thwaites is not even one of the German-sponsored teams reserves this time out.
Instead, the team has been built to support Bennett and GC man Dominic Nerz with the final selection difficult to come to according to Ralph Denk.
“We currently see a very high performance level of the entire team,” he explained. “Accordingly, it was a close decision to name the final places in the tour squad.
“Ultimately, we decided for an experienced team that supports our dual leadership with Sam Bennett and Dominik Nerz at its best.
“For this year’s profile of the Tour de France, we appointed a good balance of classic specialists and climbers.”
Czech rider Jan Barta, German duo Andreas Schillinger and Paul Voss, former Rapha-Condor man Zak Dempster, Poland’s Bartosz Huzarski and Portuguese rider Jose Mendes all return after completing last year’s Tour.
Nerz leads the team in place of the now-Team Sky man Leopold Konig, who finished seventh last time out, Bennett will look for stage wins in the sprints and the team is completed by 22-year-old German Emanuel Buchmann.
And Denk wants the team to prove once again they can mix it with the best, after encouraging performances at the Tour last year and the Vuelta a Espana in 2013 and 2014.
He concluded: “We have proven in the past three years, what we are capable of at Grand Tours thanks to a perfect team performance and very high motivation: attacks until the last kilometer, podiums, stage wins and top placings in the GC.
“This year, we want to use the biggest event in our sport again to convince with results – at best, of course, with a stage win.”
Bora-Argon 18 for the 2015 Tour de France
Jan Barta (CZE)
Sam Bennett (IRL)
Emanuel Buchmann (GER)
Zak Dempster (AUS)
Bartosz Huzarski (POL)
Jose Mendes (POR)
Dominik Nerz (GER)
Andreas Schillinger (GER)
Paul Voss (GER)
