"With Remco, it's a difficult proposition" - Belgian sprinter knows being at Tour de France with Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe will be hard

Red Bull - BORA - hansgrohe's Tour de France lineup slowly begins to take shape. Remco Evenepoel and Florian Lipowitz will lead the team in its pursuit of the yellow jersey, with Mattia Cattaneo joining them. There is discussion on whether there is space for a sprinter or not in Jordi Meeus, and if so, new signing Arne Marit could find his way as a leadout man. The German team is currently weighing in its options.

"We all left for the first training day together, but everyone trained separately. Previously, at Intermarché-Wanty, we all had the same program during the December team training camp," Marit said in an interview with Wielerflits. That information comes as a bit of a surprise taking into consideration the Belgian team was racing at World Tour level this year, and was required to have high specificity for their riders.

This winter is very different for Marit, who turned pro in 2021 with Sport Vlaanderen - Baloise and moved to the World Tour in 2023. Because of the demise of Intermarché - Wanty who has merged with Lotto, he was free to leave. He found his way into BORA, who had a position to fill after Oier Lazkano was fired. He had a completely different winter training camp than what he's had in the past. "Everyone did the same climbs and everyone completed the same blocks. Now I get the impression that everyone has their own schedule," he explains. But it doesn't come without its challenges, specially with a structure that is larger than that of the Belgian team, and more international.

"At Intermarché-Wanty, I knew everyone by name, and here the staff members themselves say it will take at least six months before you can get to know everyone. If I know all the riders by the end of the training camp, that will be quite an achievement in itself," he jokes.

Marit races the Clásica Jaén Paraiso Interior and the Volta ao Algarve in February, and will then follow Jordi Meeus into the Opening Weekend where he hopes to have legs to contest results, but in Kuurne - Bruxelles - Kuurne specially, potentially leadout his compatriot to victory. Marit is a sprinter, but he is quite fond of the classics, and will follow a schedule where many should be present.

"And they mainly brought me in for the Classics. So I'll be on the road a lot with [Jordi] Meeus and [Gianni] Vermeersch. Although my race schedule isn't set in stone yet. Broadly speaking, I'll be riding roughly the same program as Jordi. Partly as a lead-out, partly to strengthen the Classics squad".

The Tour de France is a goal. But an unlikely one. "And with Remco, it's a difficult proposition, because the climbing squad will be well-stocked. But the Tour is the only Grand Tour still missing from my list, so I'd like to add it.