Rabobank sends seven to Murcia

By Susan Westemeyer

Rabobank will start the Vuelta a Murcia with only seven riders, it announced yesterday. Bram De Groot injured his hand in a crash in the Classica Almeria on Sunday and had to return to the Netherlands for additional examinations. "It is not possible to call up a reserve rider now," said team leader Frans Maassen on the team's website, rabobank.nl. "We will have to ride it with seven men, but that will go well."

De Groot injured the same hand that he hurt in a crash in the Tour Down Under earlier this year. The hand remained swollen on Monday, and he returned home.

The Dutch ProTour team will now send Thomas Dekker, Jan Boven, Denis Menchov, Dmitriy Kozontchouk, Tom Leezer, Bauke Mollema and Graeme Brown to Murcia.

Thank you for reading 5 articles in the past 30 days*

Join now for unlimited access

Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1

*Read any 5 articles for free in each 30-day period, this automatically resets

After your trial you will be billed £4.99 $7.99 €5.99 per month, cancel anytime. Or sign up for one year for just £49 $79 €59

Join now for unlimited access

Try your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1