Klöden returns

Andreas Klöden (T-Mobile) will return to racing at the Bayern-Rundfahrt (Tour of Bavaria), May 25-29. Klöden last raced four weeks ago, when he dropped out of the Fleche Wallonne on April 20. In an interview on T-Mobile's website, he says he is still not in "peak form".

"I am feeling good, and getting better with each training ride," says Klöden. "Of course I am far from my peak form, but I need to bide my time. I have been training with steadily increasing intensity as I am well aware that my performance levels are not just going to improve overnight."

Klöden has been concentrating on endurance training, with six and a half and seven-hour rides, recently adding in some hills in the Black Forest and his base in Switzerland. With the Tour de France on the horizon, and a repeat or improvement on his 2004 second place an obvious target, he says he is, "happy with the way things are going at the moment."

His goals at the Bayern-Rundfahrt are modest. "I am not gunning for a high GC finish," says Klöden. "I want to get race miles into my legs, use the competition to develop speed, endurance and power. But having said that, if I feel that I have the right sensations in my legs on any given day, then I will go for it."

After Bayern-Rundfahrt, Klöden will race the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré in France, June 5-12.