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Latest TdF Cycling News for June 24, 2005

Edited by Jeff Jones

Liberty Seguros-Würth for Tour de France

At the completion of its training camp in Puente Viesgo, Spain, the Liberty Seguros-Würth team has named its nine riders for the Tour de France: Joseba Beloki, Alberto Contador, Allan Davis, Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, Roberto Heras, Jörg Jaksche, Luis León Sanchez, Marcos Serrano and Ángel Vicioso will all ride, with Jan Hruska and René Andrle down as reserves.

The team is a balanced one and has a number of options for stage wins, including Davis in the bunch sprints, Contador, Jaksche, Sanchez, and Vicioso for breakaways, and Heras for the high mountain stages and he and Jaksche for the general classification. The form of two-time Tour podium finisher Joseba Beloki is still questionable, but he could be a contender in the mountains as well.

No Boonen in Aalst

The 70th post-Tour de France criterium in Aalst on Monday, July 25, will have to do without Belgium's biggest rider Tom Boonen (Quick.Step). The sprinter, who won the final stage on the Champs Elysées last year, and the Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix this year, is asking for €22,000 start money, according to Sportwereld.be.

"And Boonen isn't even Belgian champion and doesn't have the green jersey yet," said one of the organisers, Johnny Van Den Borre. "Then it would be €25,000. That's far too much money for a start in a criterium that is always free to watch. If a specific sponsor will cover it, then fine."

On the other hand, Boonen will ride the inaugural Broker criterium in Diksmuide on July 26, two days after the Tour.

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