Bernhard Eisel ready for his record ninth appearance at the Tour de France 2012
It might be Bernhard Eisel’s ninth appearance at the Tour de France but the cyclist is, “as excited as if it were my first time”.
He will be part of the Strong Team Sky line-up where his main job will be to assist Tom Boonen for the overall classifications and Mark Cavendish in winning the point’s classifications.
Eisel briefed, “Team Sky wants the Tour win, we have Bradley Wiggins as co-favourite for the yellow. From the ramp in Liege to the finish in Paris, I will work with the guys for this win”.
Team Sky is currently the strongest team riding the Tour with a total number of 803 UCI points to its credit as per the UCI World Tour team’s rankings.
It is holding the first spot at the category with Team Katusha (716 points), Team Liquigas-Cannondale (657 points) and Team Omega-Pharma Quick Step (640 points) securing the next three positions.
More than 40% of the total points earned by the British team came through the strong legs of Bradley Wiggins.
Wiggins bagged the National Road Race Championships along with an overall victory at the Tour of Qatar, Paris-Roubaix, Tour of Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem and E3 Harelbeke.
He also bagged stages at the Tour of Qatar, Paris-Nice, Gent-Wevelgem and currently holds the third overall position at the UCI World Tour Elite men ranking with a total number of 366 points.
Bernhard will help Wiggins at the, “Few mountaintop finishes, and two long time trial stages, that is good for Bradley. Plus Chris Froome will provide strong support, he was second in the Vuelta last year”.
Eisel’s ninth participation will be a record of maximum number of appearances by an Austrian at the Tour.
He currently shares an equal number of eight participations with Georg Totschnig, “I have started eight times”.
“He [Georg] has won a stage, I haven't yet. Maybe it will work out on my ninth try. That would be something I can tell my grandchildren later”.
The final list of nine cyclists to represent the team at the Tour de France include, Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor), Mark Cavendish (GBr), Bernhard Eisel (Aut) and Christopher Froome (GBr).
Christian Knees (Ger), Richie Porte (Aus), Michael Rogers (Aus), Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr), Bradley Wiggins (GBr) will also ride along the team at the French Grand Tour.
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