Sørensen out of Deutschland Tour with injury

Danish hope Chris Anker Sørensen (CSC - Saxo Bank) will not be able to start the Deutschland Tour in Kitzbühel Friday due to an injury. His knee gave Sørensen trouble during the Tour of Denmark, and it got worse after the Olympic Games. "Chris has an inflammation in one knee and he hasn't been able to train effectively," said CSC director Kim Andersen to the Danish daily Politeken. "He has had to stay off his bike for some days and he now hopes that treatment at a specialist will help."

Sørensen's participation in the world Championships in Varese, September 28, are still in his plans, despite the injury. He is expected to ride Tour of Britain, September 7 to 14 or Tour of Poland, September 14 to 20, as preparation for the World Championships.

The team will not be able to substitute for Sørensen, and will start the German tour with seven riders. Last year's winner Jens Voigt will lead CSC - Saxo Bank in the Deutschland Tour with Olympic TT silver medallist Gustav Larsson, his compatriot Marcus Ljungqvist, the American Jason McCartney plus the Danish trio Nicki Sørensen, Lasse Bøchman and Kasper Klostergård.

"There is no doubt that Jens Voigt really would be at his best on home turf. But he has had a long season with Giro d'Italia as well as Tour de France. And last Monday's Grand Prix Ouest-France indicated that he is tired. So I have serious doubts abut his level of form. But I expect that we can show ourselves strongly in the race. I'm very excited to see what Gustav Larsson can do. And I also have expectations for Lasse Bøchman who put on a good show in Grand Prix Ouest-France," said Andersen. He said the first stage from Kitzbühel to Hochflügen will be decisive with a fine tuning of the general classification in the final time trial in Bremen. (TN)