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Thursday's EuroFile: Armstrong taps Ullrich as Tour fave; five teams join Continental Pro ranks

By Agence France Presse, and staff reports
Published: Jan. 19, 2006

Jan Ullrich will easily win the 2006 Tour de France, says seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.

"I predict that he'll win it by four to five minutes," Armstrong was quoted as saying in Thursday'sBild newspaper.

The American, who retired after winning last year's Tour, always considered the 32-year-old German his key challenger. Ullrich won the Tour in 1997, but never found a way to defeat Armstrong.

"All our team planning and strategy in the past years concentrated entirely on how to neutralize Ullrich," Armstrong toldBild. "Fortunately, it always worked."

Armstrong was in South Africa on Wednesday to launch a "Unite 4 Health" campaign and visited cancer patients in the Soweto township outside Johannesburg.

Five teams added to Continental Pro list
The UCI road commission has registered five additional Continental Pro teams for the 2006 season and put a sixth application on hold pending further documentation.

On December 20, 2005, the commission gave the six teams until January 17 to complete their applications. Five have since been approved — Elk Haus-Simplon (A), Andalucia-Paul Versan (Sp), Comunidad Valenciana (Sp), Relax-GAM (Sp), and Team Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi (I).

Naturino-Sapore Di Mare’s registration is on hold until additional documentation is produced, the UCI said in a statement.

The latest registrations bring the list of Continental Pro teams to 25 for 2006.

UCI Continental Pro teams
Elk Haus-Simplon (A)
Andalucia-Paul Versan (Sp)
Comunidad Valenciana (Sp)
Relax-GAM (Sp)
Team Androni Giocattoli-3C Casalinghi (I)
Team Vorarlberg (A)
Landbouwkrediet–Colnago (B)
Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen (B)
Unibet.com (B)
Colombia-Selle Italia (Col)
3 Molinos Resort (Sp)
Kaiku (Sp)
Agritubel (F)
Barloworld (GB)
Team Wiesenhof Akud (G)
Tenax (Irl)
Ceramiche Panaria-Navigare (Irl)
Acqua & Sapone (I)
Ceramica Flaminia (I)
Miche (I)
Skil-Shimano (Ned)
Intel-Action (Pol)
Team LPR (Swi)
Health Net-Maxxis (USA)
Navigators Insurance Cycling Team (USA)