Tom Boonen (Quick Step) (Image credit: Shane Stokes)
ProTour teams Quick Step and Lampre-NGC have announced their squads for the Tour of Qatar, which starts this week. Quick Step's Tom Boonen dominated last year's race, but the Belgian will face stiff competition from Columbia rider Mark Cavendish at this year's event.
Wouter Weylandt will also contest the event with Quick Step, two weeks after withdrawing from the team camp due to pain. "I'm very happy," he said. "Now I feel better. On Saturday I trained five hours and on Sunday six hours without pain. I am ready to give my contribution to the team in the Tour of Qatar."
Lampre-NGC is hopeful Angelo Furlan and Micro Lorenzetto will bring the squad some success at the event. "We go to this race with the idea that we can catch good results in sprints with Furlan or Lorenzetto, because the races are suitable for this kind of riders," said sport director Fabrizio Bontempi.
Lampre-NGC roster for Qatar: Marco Bandiera, Mauro Da Dalto, Angelo Furlan, Micro Lorenzetto, Marcin Sapa, Simon Spilak, Daniele Righi, Mori Massimiliano. Quick Step roster for Qatar: Tom Boonen, Steven De Jongh, Kevin Hulsmans, Kevin Van Impe, Sebastien Rosseler, Marco Velo, Wouter Weylandt and Maarten Wynants.
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