Evans to lead Silence-Lotto at Vuelta

Tour de France bridesmaid Cadel Evans will ride his second Grand Tour of the season when he lines up as joint leader of the Silence-Lotto team in Spain for the Vuelta a España. Evans will start the Vuelta as preparation for the UCI World Road Championships in Varese, Italy next month.

Yaroslav Popovych joins Evans as leader of the squad which features six Belgians, according to Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad.

The Australian is not heading to Spain to exact revenge for the Tour de France, but he will be lining up against the previous two Tour de France winners: Carlos Sastre and Alberto Contador. Both Spaniards will be riding on home soil with strong teams and will be in contention for victory.

Contadar was unable to defend his 2007 Tour title after his Astana team was not invited to this year's Tour for past doping violations. Contador won the Giro d'Italia after Astana was given a last minute start at the expense of NGC Medical - OTC Industria Porte.

Stay tuned to Cyclingnews for coverage of the 2008 Vuelta a España, which starts on August 30.

Silence Lotto for the Vuelta a España: Cadel Evans (Aus), Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr), Greg Van Avermaet (Bel), Pieter Jacobs (Bel), Roy Sentjens (Bel), Bart Dockx (Bel), Olivier Kaisen (Bel), Dominique Cornu, (Bel) and Maarten Tjallingii (Ned).