With an entirely Dutch line up being sent to the Giro d’Italia, to largely concentrate on supporting the sprint talent of Theo Bos, the orange and blue team is to send a far more international group to the Tour of California. The Dutch bank has considerable interests in the Golden State and so the team takes the race very seriously; this year Rabobank will be supporting both the overall ambitions of former World cyclocross champion Lars Boom, and the sprinting of three-time World champion Oscar Freire and under-23 World champion Michael Matthews.
All three riders have shown good form so far this season, with Boom winning, and placing in, a number of time trials; he was also riding very strongly in Paris-Roubaix but, like World champion Thor Hushovd (Garmin-Cervélo), his personal ambitions in the race were hamstrung by the presence of teammate Maaten Tjallingii up the road.
Freire’s win-count so far this year is a little lower than usual, but the ever-resilient Spaniard managed two top-fives in last week’s Tour de Romandie. His sixth place in Amstel Gold, and fifteenth in Liège-Bastogne-Liège are also testament to the fact that he is one of the best sprinters at getting over the hills.
20-year-old Matthews is taking the sport’s top level by storm, despite being in his very first year at this level. His stage victory in the Tour Down Under back in January was arguably to be expected, but he also has victories in the Vuelta a Murcia and the Rund um Köln to his name this year. His third place, on very youthful Rund um den Finanzplatz Eschborn-Frankfurt, on Sunday shows that he is able to compete with the best,
Supporting the team’s three captains will be a number of the team’s strongest and most experienced domestiques, including Laurens Ten Dam and Paris-Roubaix third place Tjallingii.
Rabobank team for the Tour of California:
Lars Boom, Graeme Brown, Oscar Freire, Paul Martens, Michael Matthews, Grischa Niermann, Laurens Ten Dam and Maarten Tjallingii