3 juli 2024

Five SEG rookies in Tour de France

The 111th Tour de France is underway! Over the next weeks, more than 170 riders will compete for the yellow jersey. Here at SEG, we are following five of our own riders with particular interest: Oscar Onley, Marijn van den Berg, Stephen Williams, Axel Laurance and Bram Welten. This is their debut in the most prestigious race of the year. How will they perform? Let’s get to know them a little better.

Oscar Onley


Nationality: British. Age: 21. Team: dsm-firmenich PostNL


As a promising young rider, Oscar once gave Jonas Vingegaard a run for his money in the Tour of Croatia and as a professional, he has already achieved impressive results. Oscar won his first World Tour stage this year in the Tour Down Under (Australia) and recently finished 8th overall in the Tour de Suisse. He thrives in hilly and mountainous stages. Keep an eye on him, he could very well frequently compete for stage wins.


Marijn van den Berg


Nationality: Dutch. Age: 24 (he will be 25 on 19 July during the Tour). Team: EF-Education EasyPost


Marijn van den Berg has already notched up four victories this season. The powerful sprinter claimed a stage win in the Tour of Catalonia and celebrated twice in the Région Pays de la Loire Tour, where he also won the overall classification. Participating in the Tour de France is a dream come true for him. “I hope to grab a few stages with the team. There are a few stages that suit me personally, and I will definitely focus on those."


Stephen Williams


Nationality: British. Age: 28. Team: Israel – Premier Tech


Former SEG Racing Academy rider ‘Stevie’ Williams has had a very good season so far. He won a stage and the overall classification of the Tour Down Under in January and carried on winning La Flèche Wallonne (Waalse Pijl) in April. The late bloomer from Wales has already had to endure a lot of setbacks in his career and always came back stronger. We’re excited to find out if he will be able to showcase his talent as a puncher in the Tour.


Bram Welten


Nationality: Dutch. Age: 27. Team: dsm-firmenich PostNL


This will be Bram’s second grand tour participation of the season. He also started in the Giro d’Italia, but unfortunately had to abandon in the fourth stage due to illness. Bram is one of four Dutch riders in team dsm-firmenich PostNL. He will primarily be working hard in the flat stages and is an important factor in the sprint lead-out train of Fabio Jakobsen (who is also a SEG client).


Axel Laurance


Nationality: French. Age: 23. Team: Alpecin-Deceuninck


Axel has already won three stages in multi-day races this year, the biggest one being a sprint in stage 5 of the Volta Catalunya, beating Marijn van den Berg by a few centimetres. He also won the overall classification of the Tour of Norway in May AND he is the reigning World Champion Under 23. Laurance is fast and he can climb like a mountain goat. What can he show us in the Tour?