Primož Roglič will kick off his 2022 season at the Ardèche and Drôme Classics in France next weekend, where he will be flanked by many of the Jumbo-Visma riders who will support his bid for the Tour de France in July.
In what is a stronger-than-ever field for the early-season hilly one-day races, Jumbo-Visma have the strongest squad in the provisional line-ups that have been submitted to the race organiser.
Roglič will race for the first time this season alongside the rider who is set to share responsibilities at the Tour, Jonas Vingegaard. The 25-year-old Dane finished second overall at last year’s Tour following Roglič’s early crash and exit, and has been given protected status in 2022.
The pair will be joined next weekend by Sepp Kuss, who is among the world’s best climbing domestiques and has become a key ally of Roglič’s in recent years. Steven Kruijswijk is also on the start list for both races. He hasn’t been billed as a leader for this year’s Tour but nevertheless placed third overall in 2019.
All four riders have already been confirmed as part of Jumbo-Visma’s eight-man squad for the 2022 Tour de France, with six names already down and two more to be confirmed in the coming months.
Wout van Aert is another big name on the Tour team sheet but is racing the ‘Opening Weekend’ of the Classics in Belgium next weekend, while new signing Rohan Dennis will act as a key domestique in July but has not yet begun his European campaign after spending the winter in Australia.
Robert Gesink has been included on the provisional start list for the Ardeche and Drôme Classics and he is one of the riders vying for one of the last two spots on the Tour team. He was one of the 13 names on the team’s Tour longest that was revealed by Cyclingnews at the start of the year.
Jumbo-Visma’s squads for the two French races next weekend are rounded out by Tobias Foss, who will enjoy a leadership role alongside Tom Dumoulin at this year’s Giro d’Italia, and domestique Koen Bouwman. Acting as reserves are Sam Oomen, who’s also on the Tour longlist, and Neo-pro Mick Van Dijke.
Aside from Jumbo-Visma, QuickStep-AlphaVinyl are bringing the strongest squads to the Ardeche and Drome Classics, with world champion Julian Alaphilippe to line up at both races. He will be flanked by what looks like the bulk of the Belgian team’s Ardennes squad, including Mauri Vansevenant, Andrea Bagioli, Mauro Schmid, Dries Devenyns, James Knox and Pieter Serry.
Thibaut Pinot will lead Groupama-FDJ at both races, with David Gaudu a reserve, while other big names include Brandon McNulty (UAE Team Emirates), Biniam Girmay (Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert), Benoît Cosnefroy (AG2R Citroën), and Guillaume Martin (Cofidis).
The Ardèche Classic takes place on Saturday February 26, with the 168.5km route based on looped around Guilherand-Granges in the Ardèche region of southern France. The combination of the long Saint-Romain-de-Lerps climb and the short but steep Val d’Enfer will be tackled three times, the last preceding a short run-in to the finish.
The nearby Drôme Classic the following day is less hilly but still open to selections on the constantly undulating roads in the final 50km before the road drags uphill for a grinding sprint to the line.
Cyclingnews will have full coverage of both races, with race reports, news and interviews.
