RadioShack team manager Johan Bruyneel has named seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong amongst the starters in the team's debut race, the Santos Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia. Armstrong began his comeback from a three-year retirement in the 2009 edition of Australia's ProTour race, and will again kick off his season there in January.
Bruyneel said on his website, "We have not decided completely on who will be racing.
"I can tell you Lance is going to be racing. Gert Steegmans is going to be racing, he is the sprinter and we know there is a big possibility for bunch sprints at that race," added Bryneel.
"Yaroslav Popovych will be racing, and the others are yet to be determined."
Organizers of the race will be thrilled to have the American participate again, as his presence last year significantly raised the profile of the already successful event.
Bruyneel understands that it will be an important race for the team as they sport the RadioShack kit for the first time. New recruit Gert Steegmans will be extremely motivated after a tough season that began with injury, and ended in a dispute with his former team Katusha's management over an anti-doping addendum to his contract. The Belgian has demonstrated in the past he can sprint with the best, and will be out to prove to the team that he's back.
"It will definitely be a pretty strong team," Bruyneel explained. "We want to be competitive from the first race on in the uniform of RadioShack."
The race will also see the debut of the new British Team Sky led by Australian sports director Scott Sunderland. This will be Sunderland's first race in the driver's seat after leaving Bjarne Riis' Saxo Bank team at the end of 2008.
Australian Allan Davis will be the defending champion in 2010, and will look to repeat the win in his home Tour.