Gerolsteiner's double hopes - two captains, two goals

A top ten finish, or a stage win? Actually, Gerolsteiner Team Manager Hans-Micheal Holczer would be happy to take both. "Of course we dream of a stage win but for that you need a little luck, and you can't always count on that. On the other hand, in the last two years we have had a rider in the top ten overall. I would like to see that, too," he said.

The team is going with two-pronged offence, with Levi Leipheimer and Georg Totschnig as equal captains. "Both are in the running for a top ten placing," according to Holczer. Leipheimer may have the better chance, having just won the Dauphiné Libéré. "Levi says that he can come close to the podium. I certainly don't want to contradict him. But he knows very well that everything has to work out just right in these three weeks. We want to take care of that." He wishes the American well, saying, "The closer to the podium, the better."

The other captain is the Austrian climber Totschnig, who has stayed healthy this year before the Tour. "It will be good for us, to be there with two top riders. It makes us more open, more difficult to figure out, and more variable," according to Holczer.

But the team is not just looking at the overall rankings. According to Holczer, the team is taking Tour newcomer David Kopp "because he can sprint. And I'm sure that he will have his chances." He is also looking to Fabian Wegmann and Peter Wrolich as possible stage winners in escape groups. "You can't have enough of these guys."