Seven ProTour teams confirmed for Tour Down Under

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Organisers of the Tour Down Under have confirmed the line-ups for six of ProTour teams that will compete in the 2010 edition of the race, from January 19-24.

The Tour Down Under website has listed the seven-man rosters for Columbia-HTC, Katusha, Milram and Rabobank. French teams Française des Jeux and AG2R La Mondiale were also listed by organisers, though both had confirmed their squads for the six-stage, ProTour event.

In addition, the release of the RadioShack startlist on Tuesday completes seven of the 17 ProTour teams that will participate in the race.
As expected Australian ProTour riders feature prominently on the team sheets. Robbie McEwen will lead Katusha at the after an injury plagued 2009 season. The Tour Down Under was one of the few races McEwen competed in this year. The event's curtain raiser, the Down Under Classic criterium, was also one of only three wins for the 37-year-old sprinter before his season-ending crash at the Tour of Belgium in May.

Columbia-HTC will enter the race with the US-based squad's full compliment of local talent. Michael Rogers and Mark Renshaw will join newcomers to the squad, Matthew Goss and New Zealander Hayden Roulston, in Adelaide. Winner of the 2007 Tour Down Under, German Andre Greipel will also return a year after he crashed out of the 2008 edition on stage three.

South Australian Luke Roberts will mark his return to ProTour racing with new squad Milram, while New South Welshman Graeme Brown (Rabobank) and Tasmanian Wes Sulzberger (Française des Jeux) will get an early start to the season at home, too.

The ten ProTour teams yet to confirm their squads for the event are: Astana, Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Footon-Servetto, Garmin-Slipstream, Liquigas-Doimo, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quick Step, Saxo Bank and Team Sky. They will be joined by a composite Australian national team and Professional Continental squad BMC Racing Team.

BMC were announced last month as a wildcard for the event and will be led by World road Champion Cadel Evans.

The seven ProTour squads so far confirmed for the 2010 Tour Down Under:

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