Jakob Fuglsang not chosen for the Tour de France squad
Jakob Fuglsang was positive to ride the Tour de France after the couple of good performances in the early part of the season.
The cyclist was recently seen in action at the Tour de Suisse where he helped his team-mate Frank Schleck with a second overall spot.
The Dane was optimistic to make it through the final Tour squad but the cyclist has now been replaced by Chris Horner.
Horner was not even listed in the long list released by the team earlier because of a minor back injury.
The 27-year-old briefed that he was confirmed a Tour spot by the Sports Director Kim Andersen and is surprised to see his name excluded from the final squad.
He told Sporten.dk, "I was told by Kim Andersen, but he could not say why".
"Of course I'm disappointed with it and I think I should have a place on the team”.
“If you look at my form and my results, I cannot see that there are nine riders who are better".
Team RadioShack-Nissan press officer Philippe Maertens briefed that the reason behind dropping Fuglsang might be because the team is run by two US sponsors, and they wanted at least one American in the side.
Jakob’s exclusion can also be linked to his decision of opting to ride for Team Saxo Bank for the 2013 season.
“[It] was a difficult choice, but a choice of team management. Andy [dropping] out changed many things. And it was not a choice [of] Horner or Fuglsang".
Fuglsang noted that he respects the decision made by the team, "There is more than what appears in the press”.
“We see only the tip of the iceberg. It does not take a genius to see that it is not running as it should".
The Luxembourg based team is riding the Tour de France without their star rider, Andy Schleck after the cyclist crashed during the Criterium du Dauphine 2012.
The team faced another setback after Team Manager Johan Bruyneel’s name came up in the Lance Armstrong/USADA doping case.
Team RadioShack-Nissan final Tour de France squad:
Chris Horner, Fabian Cancellara, Tony Gallopin, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Yaroslav Popovych, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt and Haimar Zubeldia.
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