Tour de France "looks very encouraging for us", Team BikeExchange manager confirms

Team BikeExchange - Jayco have secured their position in the World Tour, and are looking positively towards the coming season, with the Tour de France route presenting opportunities for their leaders.

“There are a lot of short, hard stages with a lot of climbing in those kilometers. That suits us a lot," team general manager Brent Copeland told VeloNews following the grand reveal. "There aren’t as many sprint stages as I expected but they have said there are eight flat stages. In general, it looks good."

In recent weeks there have been talks that Simon Yates will likely change his schedule in 2023, opting out of the Giro d'Italia. The Tour de France would be the likely choice, and the reveal of a mountainous and diverse route favours the Briton - regardless of him eyeing the GC or stage hunting in France.

There are stages that suit Michael, and it’s a very nice route for Simon too. We have to sit down with Matt White and the performance group to decide what we do, but on paper, it looks very encouraging for us," Copeland continued. Michael Matthews won this year's stage to Mende, and would be a prime candidate to take the yellow jersey on the opening weekend with two hilly stages in the Basque Country.

As for the sprints, and the possibilities for Dylan Groenewegen, he continued: "I was surprised with just the one time trial but there are four or five pure sprint stages, which is good for us... but we have to see how much support Dylan would need in the sprints and how much support Simon would need because that central section, when you go through the medium mountains, you’re going to need domestiques to look after your captain."

The Dutchman had a very mixed year, but a stage win at the Tour de France has seen his season saved. He could be looking to repeat that. "I think it’s something that could happen but we need to look at the options. Now that we have the Giro and Tour route we can start to plan," he concluded.