Teams for Tour of Britain

September 1, 2009; Event Press release with additions from Larry Hickmott
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Latest: Rapha Condor Announce Their Tour Team

We've just received the line-up for the Rapha Condor Tour of Britain Team - the team is L-R Tom Southam, Dan Craven, Kristian House, Simon Richardson, Darren Lapthorne, Chris Newton

Just added Provisional Start Sheet (see below)

With the start of The Tour of Britain drawing ever closer, SweetSpot Group Ltd, organiser’s of the UK’s biggest free to attend sporting event, have today announced the names of the remaining four teams to make up the total line up for this year’s event.  All four squads make their Tour of Britain debuts, with Rabobank bringing former Tour of Britain winner Mauricio Ardila to the race, while Katusha boast former King of the Mountains Ben Swift and stage winner Filippo Pozzato among their provisional line-up.

Both Joker Bianchi and ISD – Neri bring strong rosters to The Tour, with both teams more than capable of winning stages or featuring high in the overall classification in their first appearance in the race. This year’s event sees a total of eight Tour de France teams competing for the coveted yellow leader’s jersey.  Agritubel, Ag2r La Mondiale, the Cervelo Test Team, Euskaltel – Euskadi, Katusha, Garmin Slipstream, Rabobank and Team Columbia – HTC are the eight squads, who between them won 12 stages of the world’s biggest bike race this summer.

Moving Swiftly on…

Among the provisional teams announced for the Tour of Britain is former King of the Mountains Ben Swift who this year turned professional and has come close to his first win with a number of podiums including one in the Tour of Italy but as yet has not secured his first pro victory.

Commenting on being selected for the Tour of Britain, Ben who has ridden the race before with Barloworld as well as several times with Team GB, said: “I’m really excited about doing The Tour of Britain with a pro team such as Katusha. The race is getting better and better each year and looking at the teams who are coming this year, I think there are more teams and more of the top teams in the race.”

“It’s my home race and I really enjoy coming back to do it because we’re hardly ever in Britain. It is good we now have our own National Tour which each year is getting bigger and bigger and if I can get my first win in The Tour of Britain, that would make it quite special.”

“I have had two second places this year and I think three thirds which is why I really want this win. I have got every place in the top 10 except 1st and 7th! I am definitely after the former! Ben however will have an old foe to battle with after it was announced that infamous Aussie sprinter Graeme Brown who denied Ben a victory earlier in the year  is down to ride for Rabobank.
 
The Tour of Britain also finishes the week before the UCI Road Cycling World Championships (Switzerland) which Ben says is a perfect time and with many of the riders preparing for the Worlds in the Tour of Britain, that will make for a really good race.

One rider who was not on ISD’s provisional starting list (but has since been added) is British rider Ian Stannard (above) who had such a great Tour last year finishing third overall. Ian recently picked up a minor foot injury which has not affected his riding. When I spoke to Ian last week he did explain that should he get selected, like Ben, he would be going for a stage win rather than the overall because although he has experienced a pro victory with the team in a team time trial, he really would like to win a race on his own.

Ian went on to add that “I quite like the Tour of Britain compared to the other Tours I have done. I can speak English in the hotel and to people on the race and know what is going on. It’s also the biggest bike race in Britain so it would be good to be part of it.”

One of the interesting things that came out of the conversation with Ian was the safety of the race on the crowded British roads. Over the years, many of the foreign riders have hit the headlines unhappy about racing on British roads but Ian was keen to point out that while some riders have called into question the safety of the race on British roads that really, the Tour of Britain is like most others he does.

“To be honest, I think the safety is as good as any other race. It’s only the other really big races (Giro etc) that are probably better. I have really enjoyed the race and there is a good atmosphere being on it. The public seem to be curious about what is going on and so there’s lots of them about, especially the young people from the schools and that’s good to see.”

Talking about the stages on the Tour of Britain which are shorter than say some like those he experienced in the ProTour race, the Tour of Poland, Ian explains that the stages for the Tour of Britain are every bit as hard as similar races in Europe. “The stages tend to be a bit shorter but the roads are heavier and not as fast and it’s always up and down with some wind making it difficult.”

The final four teams and their riders are:

ISD-Neri      (http://www.isdcyclingteam.com)
A new team for 2009, ISD are a Italo-Ukranian affair, with a management team that includes former professional Luca Scinto and the legendary and charismatic Mario Cipollini, who needs no introduction to cycling fans.

Based in Tuscany, ISD have both amateur and Continental level teams, with the senior squad aiming to grow gradually over the next three years to become one of the world’s top ten teams.

Joker Bianchi (http://www.jokerbianchi.no)
Norway’s Joker Bianchi make their Tour of Britain debut, but one of their former riders, Edvald Boasson Hagen, has already had an indelible impact on the race, winning three stages last year.

Alexander Kristoff, the team’s sprinter, beat Thor Hushovd in a sprint to be champion of Norway on the road last year, and has had several second and third places in sprints this year, so a big win can only be just around the corner for the young Norwegian.

Stian Remme is the best climber on the team, winning a stage of the Tour of the Pyrenees in 2008 and doing well in several other French races this season.

The team also put in a good performance at the Tour Alsace in July, with Frederik Wilmann winning a stage; to go with his top ten finish in last year’s Tour de l’Avenir, a mini-Tour de France for young riders.

Rabobank      (http://www.rabosport.nl) 
Rabobank can boast that they have a former Tour of Britain winner in Mauricio Ardila. The Colombian won the first Tour back in 2004.

This will be the first appearance of the ProTour Rabobank team in the race, although in 2007 their development Continental level squad did take part.  One of the world’s biggest teams, the squad can trace their history right back until 1984 under a variety of sponsors, such as Buckler and Wordperfect.  They’ve ridden every Tour de France since ’84, winning twenty-two stages of the race since they became Rabobank in 1996.

Team Katusha  (http://www.katushateam.com)
The ‘Russian Global Cycling Project’ arrives at The Tour of Britain two years on from their appearance as the Tinkoff Credit Systems team that formed the foundations of Katusha.  On that appearance they won two stages, and with a bigger budget and top line stars, the team will be a threat for further stage wins and possibly the overall Yellow Jersey.

Filippo Pozzato (Sheffield ’06) has the experience of winning a stage in The Tour of Britain, while Britain’s Ben Swift won the King of the Mountains jersey in 2007.  The youngster from Sheffield also has a fast growing reputation as an excellent sprinter, which saw him recording several top ten stage finishes at the Giro d’Italia this year.

The team also have a strong sprinter in the form of Danilo Napolitano, while Vladimir Karpets is among some of the best riders to have been produced by Russia in recent seasons. Karpets is a regular top twenty finisher in Grand Tours, while Evgeni Petrov has also recorded a top ten finish in the Giro d’Italia.

Provisional list of Teams and Riders for 2009 Tour of Britain

Agritubel   
1 Lequatre, Geoffroy (FRA)
2 Berges, Emilien (FRA)
3 Bouet, Maxime (FRA)
4 Laurent, Christophe  (FRA)
5 Ravard, Anthony (FRA)
6 Vogondy, Nicolas (FRA)


Barloworld   
11 Cummings, Stephen (GBR)
12 Froome, Christopher (GBR)
13 Hunter, Robert (RSA)
14 Impey, Daryl (RSA)
15 Soler, Mauricio (COL)
16 Thomas, Geraint (GBR)


Team Columbia-HTC   
21 Boasson Hagen, Edvald (NOR)
22 Lovkvist, Thomas (SWE)
23 Martin, Tony (GER)
24 Renshaw, Mark (AUS)
25 Rogers, Michael (AUS)
26 Siutsou, Kanstantsin (BLR)


Rapha Condor   
31 Greenwood, Ben (GBR)
32 House, Kristian GBR)
33 Lapthorne, Darren (GBR)
34 Newton, Christopher (GBR)
35 Richardson, Simon (GBR)
36 Southam, Tom (GBR)


Candi-TV-Marshalls Pasta   
41 Appleby, Dale (GBR)
42 Briggs, Graham (GBR)
43 Elliott, Malcolm (GBR)
44 Downing, Russell (GBR)
45 Sampson, James (GBR)
46 Williams, Peter (GBR)


Ag2r La Mondiale   
51 Roche, Nicolas (IRE)
52 Dion, Renaud (FRA)
53 Goubert, Stephane (FRA)
54 Krivtsov, Yuriy (UKR)
55 Mondory, Lloyd (FRA)
56 Sonnery, Blaise (FRA)


Rabobank       
61 Stamsnijder, Tom (NED)
62 Brown, Graeme (AUS)
63 Clement, Stef (NED)
64 Ten Dams, Laurens (NED)
65 Niermann, Grischa (GER)
66 Posthuma, Joost (NED)


CSF Navigare   
71 Finetto, Mauro (ITA)
72 Frapporti, Marco (ITA)
73 Canuti, Frederico (ITA)
74 Pozzovivo, Domenico (ITA)
75 Savini, Filippo (ITA)
76 Zen, Enrico (ITA)


Joker Bianchi   
81 Kristoff, Alexander (NOR)
82 Willmann, Frederik (NOR)
83 Remme, Stian (NOR)
84 Sortveit, Sondre (NOR)
85 Nordhaug, Lars Petter (NOR)
86 Stake Laengen, Vegard (NOR)


Garmin-Slipstream   
91 Wiggins, Bradley (GBR)
92 Duijn, Huub (NED)
93 Lowe, Trent (AUS)
94 Peterson, Tom (USA)
95 Sutton, Chris (AUS)
96 Van Der Velde, Ricardo (NED)


Topsport Vlaanderen   
101 De Ketele, Kenny (BEL)
102 Criel, Tom (BEL)
103 De Gendt, Thomas (BEL)
104 Vandewalle,  Kristof (BEL)
105 Vanheule, Bart (BEL)
106 Vanspeybrouck, Pieter (BEL)


Cervelo Test Team   
111 Appollonio, Davide (ITA)
112 Deignan, Philip (IRE)
113 Fleeman, Dan (GBR)
114 LLoyd, Daniel (GBR)
115 Hunt, Jeremy (GBR)
116 Reimer, Martin (GER)


Team Katusha   
121 Swift, Ben (GBR)
122 Karpets, Vladimir (RUS)
123 Napolitano, Danilo (ITA)
124 Pozzato, Filippo (ITA)
125 Petrov, Evgueni (RUS)


Team Halfords Bikehut   
131 Clancy, Edward (GBR)
132 Hayles, Robert (GBR)
133 McNally, Mark (GBR)
134 Partridge, Robert (GBR)
135 Tennant, Andrew (GBR)
136 Wilkinson, Ian (GBR)


Euskatel Euskadi
141 Aramendia, Javier (ESP)
142 Fdez de Larrea, Koldo (ESP)
143 Velasco, Ivan (ESP)
144 De Lis, Sergio (ESP)
145 Agirre, Josu (ESP)
146 Azanza, Jorge (ESP)


Vaconsoleil   
151 Ruijgh, Rob (NED)
152 Berkhout, Thomas (NED)
153 Cooke, Baden (AUS)
154 Honig, Reinier (NED)
155 Mol, Wouter (NED)
156 Mortensen, Martin (DEN)


ISD-Neri   
161 Huzarsky, Bartozs (POL)
162 Clarke, Simon (AUS)
163 De Negri, Pierpaolo (ITA)
164 Colo', Alessandro (ITA)
165 Stannard, Ian Dexter (GBR)
166 Ricci Bitti, Davide (ITA)

Event Website: www.tourofbritain.co.uk | Other Teams for the Tour of Britain