Sam Welsford hopes to convince team to bring him to Grande Boucle: "I would really like to ride Tour"

The ZLM Tour was an important stage race for Team DSM to work on Sam Welsford's sprint train. Everything indicates that the Australian sprinter will make his debut in the Tour de France next month.

"It's always nice to be on the podium, but as a sprinter you prefer to be on the highest step. It was a twisty run-up and we lost each other there, but I found my way to the front and got second behind Olav. He's a fast boy, but it could go either way. I had good legs, that's nice."

"And I am second in the standings. It's a good end to a week that could have been better. But we learned a lot from this and we can take a lot of this with us to the Baloise Belgium Tour next week," said Welsford. It seems written in the stars that he will make his debut in the Tour de France next month. "But that's really not sure yet!" he laughs.

"I would really like to ride Tour. Hopefully I have shown that I'm one of the top sprinters," said Welsford. "I keep getting better. After the spring I only rode Veenendaal-Veenendaal and Rund um Köln. My shape's getting better and I think I'll get even better in the Baloise Belgium, however that's a tougher race."