Freire, Menchov to Tour of Belgium

Oscar Freire (Rabobank) waves to the crowd

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Rabobank stars recovered from illnesses

Rabobank is taking its top names, Giro d'Italia winner Denis Menchov and three-time World champion Oscar Freire to the Tour of Belgium this coming week. The race runs May 26-30.

"We start with our team of stars," directeur sportif Eric Breukink told the Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf.

The Dutch team will look to defend the overall title won last year by Lars Boom. Boom, who has just completed the Amgen Tour of California, will not ride the Belgian race.

Both the top stars have recovered from respiratory illnesses which held Freire out of the Giro d'Italia and caused Menchov to cancel his training in the Sierra Nevada. The team moreover includes Koos Moerenhout, who was also too ill to make the Giro squad, and Dimitry Kozontchuk, who dropped out of the Giro after crashing several times. The line-up will be rounded out by Bram Tankink and Joost Posthuma.

"First I had to disappoint the organization that we might not be a complete team, but now I can make them very happy with the announcement that our stars will come", said Breukink.

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