Hammond well prepared for Dwars door Vlaanderen

T-Mobile's classics specialist Roger Hammond is looking forward to today's Dwars door Vlaanderen and will use the event to prepare for the Tour of Flanders. The one-day semi-classic race in Flanders, Belgium allows riders the perfect preparation for Easter weekend's Tour of Flanders ProTour round, known within the region as Ronde van Vlaanderen.

"I am feeling really positive ahead of [today]," he explained. "I now have a good few races behind me riding with the T-Mobile Team and there are a lot of aspects to Dwars door Vlaanderen that really suit me.

"It will be perfect preparation for the Tour of Flanders," added Hammond.

Hammond will be one of four classic specialists in the T-Mobile team to contest today's event, with Marcus Bughardt, Andreas Klier, Servais Knaven and Mark Cavendish also contesting the UCI 1.1 event.

"Burghardt, Hammond and Knaven are in great form at the moment. The course, with its many cobbled sections, will suit them," said T-Mobile sporting director Tristan Hoffman, who won the event in 1996. "Marcus has performed especially well here in recent years and I am hoping that he can be up at the front for the business-end of the race."

T-Mobile's Dwars door Vlaanderen roster: Eric Baumann, Marcus Burghardt, Mark Cavendish, Roger Hammond, Adam Hansen, Andreas Klier, Servais Knaven and Frantisek Rabon.