Kobe Goossens and Rune Herregodts won't ride Tour de France

Intermarché-Wanty-Circus will be missing Belgians Kobe Goossens and Rune Herregodts at the start of Tour de France in Bilbao. Both riders has some health struggles in the run up to the race and after an agreement with coach Aike Viesbeek, they won't travel to Pays Basque.

"Really sad that I won’t be at the start line of the Tour de France. We tried to be ready but my body is still underperforming and not able the respond well on some training load after the infection I got several weeks ago," said Goossens in an Instagram post regarding his absence.

"Participating in the Tour was a realistic scenario if all pieces of the puzzle fell into place. My build up was going very well, until my abandon in the penultimate stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné caused personal doubts. Since then, my slow recovery didn’t allow me to do the necessary training sessions to complete the final preparation for my first Grand Tour," added Herregodts in team's press release.

Official Intermarché-Wanty-Circus lineup for Tour de France is still unknown, but we can expect Louis Meintjes to lead the team in mountains, while Biniam Girmay should hunt a stage success.