Training programme corrected for Klöden

Andreas Klöden, last year's Tour de France runner-up, will have his training programme changed, according to T-Mobile's team website. Klöden has been undergoing performance tests at the University Clinic of Freiburg to pinpoint his fitness deficiencies after dropping out of the Vuelta a Pais Vasco. "The test results are not that bad," team doctor Andreas Schmid said. "On that basis we can now design a new training plan for him - the power deficit should be corrected soon."

Directeur sportif Mario Kummer, already under pressure because of the lack of results of his squad this early season, feels relieved. "It doesn't look as bad as we had thought," he said. Lately, rumours had been spreading in the German cycling community that Klöden would not be fit enough to perform at the Tour de France this year. Köden's personal trainer, Thomas Schediwie, doesn't think so either. "Now we have the information that we needed to change his training plan. The preparation for the Tour de France will go ahead," he commented. Andreas Klöden will be part of T-Mobile's line-up at the Belgian calssics Fléche Wallonne and Liège-Bastogne-Liège next week.