The Cervélo TestTeam has become the latest squad to name its nine-man team to ride next month’s Tour de France. As expected, the team will be built around the overall ambitions of 2008 winner Carlos Sastre, and stage wins and defence of the green jersey for Thor Hushovd.
“We are fortunate to have many excellent riders who will be in good shape and ready for the Tour,” said Cervélo TestTeam General Manager, Joop Alberda. “We are very pleased that Carlos has been given the green light to participate in this year’s Tour de France and that Thor and Heinrich have recovered well. We are now looking forward to an exciting three weeks of racing.”
There had been doubts over the participation of Sastre after the Spaniard announced that he had suffered a herniated spinal disc in the Giro d’Italia. The Spaniard hit the tarmac in stage 2, the first road stage, just 7km from the finish line in Utrecht, Netherlands causing him back pain that was to last the rest of the three week race. He also fell on stage 7 from Carrara to Montalcino, where the stage traversed a number of traditional unsurfaced Tuscan “strade bianche”, aggravating the problem.
Sastre nevertheless managed to finish the race in 8th overall.
Two-time green jersey winner Hushovd will be the team’s main sprinter as he looks to hold onto the competition that he narrowly won over Mark Cavendish (HTC-Columbia) last year. The big Norwegian has had a quiet season to date, with sixth in Milano-Sanremo and second in Paris-Roubaix the highlight so far. He was unfortunate to break his collarbone in a training accident last month and returned to racing in last week’s Tour de Suisse.
Hushovd will be supported in stage finishes by Jereny Hunt and Heinrich Haussler, a breakaway stage winner last year. Haussler will have recovered from the badly gashed elbow he sustained in the finishing straight crash in stage 4 of the Tour de Suisse, when he tangled with Cavendish.
Cervélo TestTeam for the Tour de France:
Xavier Florencio, Volodimir Gustov, Heinrich Haussler, Jeremy Hunt, Thor Hushovd, Andreas Klier, Ignatas Konovalovas, Brett Lancaster, Carlos Sastre
Reserve: Daniel Lloyd
Sports Directors: Jean Paul van Poppel, Philippe Mauduit and Alex Sans Vega