Luke Rowe wears Freestyle ID in Tour de France
This years Tour de France starts in Brussels. Luke Rowe, our sports ambassador, rides for Team Ineos who had recently replaced Sky as main sponsor of the World Tour professional cycling team. With the sponsor change came new kit so on the eve of the Tour Luke got in touch with OneLife iD to find out if we could provide his Cycling ID wristband in Team Ineos colours. This year Luke wanted a lightweight emergency ID wristband with his emergency contacts. We selected the Freestyle iD which is lightweight so ideal for cyclists. The 12 mm wide soft silicon band is comfortable and durable, available in 3 sizes and offers a choice of colours.
OneLife iD engraved the black ID tag with a link to Luke's online emergency ID profile with his emergency contacts and medical information and because it was Luke and the Tour de France we added a Welsh dragon.
As Luke wanted his emergency ID for the Tour we took the opportunity to take a quick road trip across to Belgium to hand deliver them to the team bus. A quick hunt of the Technical Area and we found the 'death star' in Team Ineos black and crimson and politely 'knocked' on the curtain! Safely delivered Luke will wear his Freestyle cycling ID on the road stages of the Tour so that at all times he is carrying his emergency information including emergency contacts and medical alert information. To find out more about what emergency information you can include on your emergency ID Click Here.
Luke turned professional with Team Sky in 2012. As a ‘Neo Pro’ (first year cycling professional), Luke was on support or 'domestique' duties for his first year. However, his improvement through the season saw him take stage 1 of the Tour of Britain as team mate Mark Cavendish crashed in the last mile. Winning Stage 1 meant Luke held the coveted yellow jersey as leader of the race.
In recent years, with Team Sky, Luke supported Chris Froome to winning the Tour de France in 2015, 2016, 2017 and Geraint Thomas in 2018. He also finished 8th in Paris Roubaix and third in Het Nieuwsblaad, where he has confirmed his position as one of the worlds best classics riders and lead out men.
After the classics Rowe's plan is to prepare for the Tour where he'll be supporting joint Team Ineos leaders Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal.
In a recent interview Rowe stated, “Every Tour is different and this year will be different again. It would be great to be a part of that whole puzzle this year and try and bring the yellow jersey to Paris. It’s such a massive achievement. To go there and support those boys again would be a massive goal for me.”
The 2019 Tour de France is one for pure climbers, with five mountain top finishes. The race is 3,460km long and starts on Saturday July 6 and finishes on Sunday July 28. It includes 21 stages with two rest days. The Tour de France 2019 starts off in Belgium. The opening stages start and finish in Brussels, with the first stage a dead cert for a bunch finish that should see a pure sprinter claim yellow.
The second stage is a 28km team time trial, so there will be time differences between the GC contenders.
The Tour start in Belgium celebrates the 50th anniversary of Eddy Merckx’s first victory. The 2019 race will also celebrate the centenary of the yellow jersey.
From Belgium the Tour heads south with a sprint stages, two lumpy stages and then the first test to the mountain-top finish of La Planche des Belles Filles.