Silence-Lotto all for one in Tour

Silence-Lotto will put its money on an overall victory for Australian Cadel Evans in this year's Tour de France, just about one month away. While the final selection will only be made after the Dauphiné Libéré and the Tour de Suisse, some riders are likely to be included. Yaroslav Popovych, Dario Cioni, Johan Vansummeren, Leif Hoste and Mario Aerts have good chances to be the support riders for Evans.

Robbie McEwen will also have a spot on the team, albeit without having the luxury of fast men to prepare the sprints for him. Press manager Filip Demyttenaere confirmed to Cyclingnews that "McEwen understands that the Tour team is focused on the overall win and is OK with it." The Australian will have to count on other teams and their lead-out trains. Erik Zabel was in a similar situation in 2004, when the T-Mobile team was built around Jan Ullrich. The following year, Zabel was left at home completely, prompting him to switch to Milram.

One rider who has raised eyebrows in the Giro, Jurgen Van den Broeck, will not be at the start of the Tour. Demyttenaere explained that "he just did a very good Giro, but he is too young for doing both. Maybe he will do the Vuelta."

Some of the riders that still hope for a spot on the Tour team include Christophe Brandt and Maarten Tjallingii, but the two big races in June in France and Switzerland will answer the question who will finally make the cut.