SweetSpot Group Ltd, organisers of The Tour of Britain, today announced the names of four additional professional cycling teams that have confirmed they will be taking part in Britain’s biggest free to attend sporting event, taking place from 12 – 19 September.
The newly added teams are:
• Cervelo Test Team (http://www.cervelo.com/)
ToB Participations: First participation
The new team built around 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre have a had a tremendously successful first season, winning four stages at the Giro d’Italia and further stages at the Tour de France, Tour of California, Paris – Nice and several other important stage races. The multi-national squad also contains seven other nationalities, among them Thor Hushovd, who beat Mark Cavendish to the Tour de France’s Green Jersey. The Norwegian also won the stage into Barcelona, while Heinrich Haussler won the wet stage to Colmar.
The team riding The Tour of Britain are:
• Davide Appollonio
• Philip Deignan
• Dan Fleeman
• Roger Hammond
• Jeremy Hunt
• Martin Reimer
• Euskaltel – Euskadi (http://www.fundacioneuskadi.com/)
ToB Participations: First participation
The Basque Euskaltel team make their Tour of Britain debut, but they’ll already be familiar to UK cycling fans thanks to their exploits in the mountains of the Tour de France in their distinctive orange jerseys. The team have been in existence since the mid-1990s, and are now managed by former Tour de France leader Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano.
Among the team’s stars is Samuel Sanchez, the current road race Olympic champion and Egoi Martinez, who impressed in the mountains during the recent Tour de France as he briefly wore the climber’s jersey.
The team riding The Tour of Britain are:
• Javier Aramendia
• Koldo Fernandez De Larrea
• Ivan Velasco
• Sergio De Lis
• Josu Agirre
• Jorge Azanza
• Garmin Slipstream Pro Cycling Team (http://www.slipstreamsports.com/)
ToB Participations: 2008
Best ToB Result: 2008, 4th Overall, Daniel Martin
Garmin are one of the most popular teams in Britain, thanks to the presence of Bradley Wiggins, David Millar and Irish starlet Dan Martin. Wiggins came fourth at the Tour de France, equalling the best ever result in the race by a British rider, while Irishman Martin is one of the sports up-and-coming stars, who recorded an excellent result in last year’s Tour of Britain.
This year Garmin will be sending a very strong team, with several riders capable of stage wins or more, indeed Wiggins already has one win on British roads this summer, having dominated the Beaumont Trophy round of the Premier Calendar.
On the sprinting front both Julian Dean and Chris Sutton were mixing it in the sprints of The Tour of Britain in 2008. Expect the Kiwi Dean to also be in the running for The Prostate Cancer Charity Points Jersey, a competition he won in 2004 and finished second in last year.
The team riding The Tour of Britain are:
• Bradley Wiggins
• Huub Duijn
• Trent Lowe
• Tom Peterson
• Chris Sutton
• Ricardo Van der Velde
• Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team (http://www.vacansoleilprocyclingteam.com/)
ToB Participations: First participation
The new Vacansoleil team may be riding their first Tour of Britain, but several riders are already familiar to the race. Frederik Veuchelen brings the experience of having twice finished in the top ten of The Tour while riding for the Belgian Topsport Vlaanderen team.
Dutchman Vierhouten is another familiar name having done well in the more technical sprints in 2006, so watch out for him in Stoke-on-Trent or Newcastle where it isn’t a flat or straightforward drag strip to the finish line. Of course there is also another fine sprinter in the shape of Tour de France stage winner and 2003 Green Jersey Baden Cooke.
With several of the riders, like Bobbie Traksel, being strong performers in tough one-day ‘Classics’, then some of the tough, hilly stages of The Tour of Britain could prove to be a happy hunting ground for the team.
The team riding The Tour of Britain are:
• Rob Ruijgh
• Thomas Berkhout
• Martin Mortensen
• Baden Cooke
• Reinier Honig
• Wouter Mol
The Tour of Britain is the UK’s biggest free to attend sporting event, attracting over a million spectators per year to towns, cities and communities across the length and breadth of the country. The 2009 event begins in Scunthorpe on Saturday 12 September and finishes eight days later in the centre of London on Saturday 19 September.
The Tour of Britain is an elite international cycle race granted 2.1 status by cycling’s world governing body, the UCI, and each year attracts a field of the world’s best teams to compete on British roads, including former World and Olympic champions and Tour de France stage winners and yellow jersey wearers.
The Tour of Britain is proud to be partnered with The Prostate Cancer Charity.
