BAHRAIN MERIDA

A new WorldTour team for 2017, Bahrain was formed around the leadership of 2014 Tour winner Vincenzo Nibali out of a cosmopolitan mix of available professionals from 18 different teams. Nibali focused on the Giro in 2017 and he’s skipping the Tour, so team leadership will rest on the narrow shoulders of Jon

Izagirre. The Basque won a prestigious mountain stage into Morzine in 2016, riding for Movistar, but he’s never finished higher than 27th in a Grand Tour and never in the top 40 of the French race though he has always achieved strong results in the week-long stage races. Elsewhere, Sonny Colbrelli will be a dark horse for the sprints, though of his 17 career wins, only one has been at WorldTour level.

TOUR PALMARÈS

2017 will be Bahrain-Merida’s irst appearance at the Tour de France. Of the riders on their books, Vincenzo Nibali has the best Tour pedigree, having won it for Astana in 2014, though he won’t be there. Izagirre’s previously won a stage.