Soren Kragh Andersen out of the Tour de France and departing from Team DSM at the end of the season

This will be the last year for Soren Kragh Andersen with Team DSM. Furthermore, the 27-year-old Dane will not be part of the Dutch team's Tour de France selection. As a result, Kragh Andersen will miss the start in his own country, something which was surely on his mind specially with the opening time-trial in Copenhagen.

"We are busy strengthening our team for next season. And we can confirm that at the end of the year Søren Kragh Andersen will take a different path, We have enjoyed our seven-year partnership with Søren and wish him all the best for the future," DSM have issued. The news don't come as a surprise following the team's bad relations with former riders, many of them left before the contract expired. Andersen was one of the exceptions, and although he seems to be on his way to conclude the season, his absence from the Tour comes as a surprise after he's been one of the team's top performers in the season and was coming into form at the Tour de Suisse.

"We still have ambitions with Søren for the rest of the season. He will also ride another great program in which we are chasing success," the team continued. Romain Bardet will be the team leader at the Tour, but with stage-winning ambitions. Cees Bol and John Degenkolb are expected to try and contest the sprints but the team is unlikely to succeed in that task - making the decision of leaving Andersen at home more unusual.

"We look forward to ending the year and our time together on a good note. The team we have selected is motivated and has the same goal," was the message sent towards the Tour de France ambitions.