Zug, Switzerland – The world's best pro-cycling teams are ready to hit the roads at this year's Tour de Suisse from 9 to 17 June, with great cycling promised across the country. The 21 teams kicking off the event will compete in a spectacular team time trial in Frauenfeld.
The challenging Tour de Suisse course, which runs right across Switzerland, takes place over nine stages and ends with an individual time trial in Bellinzona, a final test and highlight for racing against the clock specialists.
One cyclist to keep an eye on is Tour de Suisse record holder and World Champion Peter Sagan (BORA - hansgrohe), looking to take a confidence-boosting win ahead of the Tour de France. He will go all out against some of the fastest finishers in the sport including European champion Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), Olympic champion Greg van Avermaet (BMC) and André Greipel (Lotto Soudal) from Germany.
Last year's overall winner Simon Spilak is facing stiff competition from the likes of Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Richie Porte (BMC), Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) and Rui Costa (UAE Emirates).
Ralph Denk, Team Manager of BORA – hansgrohe said: "We always enjoy riding the Tour de Suisse. There are many challenging stages, but the attention it receives and number of fans lining the route never cease to amaze me. Naturally a lot of riders use it as preparation for the Tour de France, but it stands in its own right as one of the best cycling events in the world."
The Tour de Suisse will be a key test for Sagan before the Tour de France, where he will be aiming for his sixth green jersey.
InfrontRingier will handle full event operations, with approximately 300 people working on the ground across the nine stages. This will ensure its success and appeal to an anticipated one million spectators and TV viewers in approximately 100 countries and territories. The media rights have been marketed by Infront, the international sports marketing company and joint venture partner of InfrontRingier.
Infront is a leading sports marketing company managing a comprehensive portfolio of top properties. Infront covers all aspects of successful sporting events, including the distribution of media rights, sponsorship, media production, event operation and digital solutions. Headquartered in Zug, Switzerland, Infront has a team of more than 1,000 staff working from over 39 offices across more than 14 countries, delivering 4,100 event days of top class sport around the world every year. In 2015, Infront was integrated into Wanda Sports Group, part of Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group.