The identity of the eight riders to support Tour de France contender Cadel Evans has today been revealed by the BMC Racing Team which is, as anticipated, leaving former world champion Alessandro Ballan at home.
The Italian rider has been linked to the Mantova doping investigation and has a hearing in front of Italian Olympic Committee CONI on June 27th. He was suspended from competition on May 2nd, restarted at the end of that month and now appears to be sidelined once more as the investigation continues into his role in the case.
Evans, meanwhile, will concentrate fully on the task at hand. Second in the recent Critérium du Dauphiné, he knows that he is facing what is probably his last chance to win the Tour, and will try to get everything perfectly right.
He will be joined by American riders Brent Bookwalter and George Hincapie, Frenchman Amaël Moinard, the Italians Manuel Quinziato and Ivan Santaromita, Swiss riders Steve Morabito and Michael Schär, plus the German Marcus Burghardt in the race, which begins at the Passage du Gois on July 2nd.
Although the last two Tours have been disappointing for him, he has prepared differently this year so as to arrive as fresh as possible. The rejigged approach has coincided with a run of strong form; he won Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour de Romandie, then was runner-up to Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) in the Dauphiné.
Evans said after last season that the Giro d’Italia- Tour de France programme was too difficult to take on. He missed the Italian race this year, and so too did the rest of the squad for the Tour de France; this should ensure that they are fresh. Directeur sportif John Lelangue believes that the lineup will prove to be a very good one.
“We have a well-balanced team – between the experienced classics riders, who will help keep Cadel out of trouble – as well as the riders who are there for the middle and high-mountain stages,” he stated. “We also have a good squad for the team time trial, even if it is a short one.” That race against the clock is just 22 kilometres in length, but could be of big importance.
According to Team President Jim Ochowicz, the lineup is better this time round. “Last year versus this year, we are in a better position to take on the Tour de France,” he explained. “We recognized we needed to get a little bit more support for Cadel in the mountains. But we still have guys with lots of experience like George (Hincapie) and (Marcus) Burghardt to help him, too.”
Hincapie has a special Tour ahead; he will be starting the sixteenth of his career, equalling the record set by Joop Zoetemelk. He has been on eight winning teams, and both he and Evans will hope that particular statistic rises to nine in July.