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Big hitters coming to California
Second edition of Amgen Tour of California starts Sunday
When half a dozen of the world’s top professional cycling teams showedup for the start of the inaugural Amgen Tour of California in February2006, they didn’t quite know what to expect. Was this going to be an early-seasonevent only half-heartedly contested by Tour de France riders nervous aboutpeaking too soon? Or would the stars allow their lieutenants to race forthe win while using the race as training for themselves?In the end, the efforts made by overall winner Floyd Landis and hismain challengers DaveZabriskie, BobbyJulich, GeorgeHincapie, LeviLeipheimer and Cadel Evans proved they could race hard in Februaryand still peak later in the year.
That fact, along with the glowing testimonials that teams took backto Europe, encouraged three more ProTour teams — Quick Step-Innergeticof Belgium, Rabobank of the Netherlands and Liquigas of Italy — to signup for the 2007 race. And that should make this second Tour of Californiaeven more competitive than the first.Indeed, Quick Step is sending one of its superstars, 2006 world champPaolo Bettini, and that means he will probably be racing to win a stageor two, not just coming to ride an exhibition on his new Specialized teambike. Also, Rabobank’s Aussie sprinter Graeme Brown, who was competitiveat the recent Tour of Qatar, has already laid down his intention of winninga stage or two, while Liquigas has talented riders, like Italians VincenzoNibali, who excel at weeklong stage races.One sure thing about the 2007 Tour of California is that there willbe a new champion. Landis, whose Phonak team has been disbanded, is currentlyappealing the positive drug-test result that has put his 2006 Tour de Francevictory on hold. In his absence, several other North Americans head thelist of contenders for the California podium.Former Gerolsteiner team leader Leipheimer, from Santa Rosa, has joinedforces with South Carolina-based Hincapie as the team leader at DiscoveryChannel — while their teammate TonyCruz will be shooting for a stage win in his hometown of Long Beach.The CSC squad will again be headed by top time trialists Zabriskie, fromSalt Lake City, and Reno, Nevada’s Julich. And the re-named Predictor-Lottoteam has two California boys in its line-up: ChrisHorner will be looking at the overall title while FredRodriguez will be eager to please his fans with a stage win. Also,we can expect Canadian Michael Barry, who finished last year’s Tour ofCalifornia in 16th place when riding as a team worker for Discovery, toplay a bigger role for his new team, T-Mobile.The nine domestic teams should also play a stronger role than they didlast year, when Aussie NathanO’Neill of Health Net-Maxxis was the only non-ProTour rider to finishin the top 20. Health Net has hired powerful Canadian RyderHesjedal to ride alongside O’Neill; Navigators Insurance now boastsAussie Ben Day and promising Brit KristianHouse as team leaders; and Team Slipstream (formerly TIAA-CREF) hasadded ex-ProTour rider PatMcCarty to assist fellow Americans CraigLewis and DannyPate.Before the race starts in San Francisco on Sunday, velonews.com willpresent all 18 teams as their final rosters are confirmed. We start herewith Team CSC and Rabobank.Be sure to check in with VeloNews.com for Live updates throughout the 2007 Amgen Tour of California. - Editor
CSC (DENMARK)
SPONSOR: Multinational information technology services company
MANAGER/DIRECTEUR SPORTIF: Bjarne Riis. ASSISTANTS: KimAndersen, Dan Frost, Alain Gallopin, Jørgen Pedersen, Scott Sunderland
EQUIPMENT: Cervélo bikes, Shimano components
WEB SITE:www.team-csc.comRACE PROSPECTS
CSC is the No. 1 team in the world after winning the team championshipin the first two editions of UCI ProTour. Its three American riders BobbyJulich, Dave Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde all placed top 10 in theinaugural Amgen Tour of California, helping CSC win the team prize. Zabriskieand Julich are again aiming at the overall title, having both finishedon the podium last year. The squad’s new addition, Argentinean sprinterJ.J. Haedo, who won two stages for Toyota-United in 2006, will be a threatin the flatter stages. The other riders on the eight-man Tour of Californiaroster are world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland,Tour de France stage winners Karsten Kroon of the Netherlands, Stuart O’Gradyof Australia and Jens Voigt of Germany.RACE ROSTER Fabian Cancellara (Swi), 3/18/81 Juan José Haedo (Arg), 1/26/81Bobby Julich (USA), 11/18/71 Karsten Kroon (Nl), 1/29/76 Stuart O’Grady (Aus), 8/6/73Christian Vande Velde (USA), 5/22/79 Jens Voigt (G), 9/17/71David Zabriskie (USA), 1/12/79
2006 AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA RESULTS
Stages: No stage wins.
Individual GC: Zabriskie, 2nd overall; Julich, 3rd overall;Vande Velde, 9th overall.
Team championship: 1st overall.
RABOBANK (THE NETHERLANDS)
SPONSOR: Dutch banking corporation
MANAGER: Theo De Rooy. TEAM DIRECTOR: Erik Breukink.ASSISTANTS: Erik Dekker, Frans Maassen, Adri Van Houwelingen
EQUIPMENT: Colnago bikes, Shimano components
WEB SITE:www.rabobank.nlRACE PROSPECTS
Two-time Tour de France King of the Mountains Michael Rasmussen ofDenmark is the titular leader of the Rabobank team in California, but therider they call Chicken has only just recovered from a broken femur thatended his 2006 season. The team’s biggest impact on the race is likelyto be the sprinting power of Australian Graeme Brown, while Colombian climberMauricio Ardila and Dutch all-rounder Bram De Groot could also bid fora stage win. Rabobank’s dark horse is 20-year-old Robert Gesink, who canboth climb and time trial. “Robert is an extraordinary talent,” says teammanger Theo De Rooy.2007 RACE ROSTER Mauricio Ardila (Col), 5/21/79 Graeme Brown (Aus), 4/9/79 Bram De Groot (Nl), 12/18/74 Theo Eltink (Nl), 11/27/81 Robert Gesink (Nl), 5/31/86 Mathew Hayman (Aus), 4/20/78 Grischa Niermann (G), 11/3/75 Michael Rasmussen (Dk), 6/1/74
2006 AMGEN TOUR OF CALIFORNIA RESULTS
Did not compete in 2006
