Fresh off a solid Tour performance, where he finished 23rd overall, Patrik Sinkewitz will spearhead the T-Mobile Team at the Deutschland-Tour, which starts next Tuesday in Düsseldorf.
Two years ago, Sinkewitz edged out a top-class field to win Germany's most prestigious stage race. The now 25 year-old German will be hoping to repeat that performance next week, with the help of Andreas Klöden. "At the Deutschland-Tour, the team will ride in support of him [Sinekwitz]," said sporting director Valerio Piva, who also has Linus Gerdemann as a second GC option.
Gerdemann finished an impressive seventh at the challenging Tour de Suisse in June. Last week, the 23 year-old also finished second on the queen stage of the Sachsen-Tour, narrowly losing out to Team CSC's Andy Schleck (CSC) in a two-up sprint for the stage win. "Gerdemann performed very well in his last few races, and should have the right form to play a leading role," said Piva, who believes the team's dual-leadership strategy will "make things much more complicated for the competition".
Supporting Sinkewitz and Gerdemann co-leadership is Eddy Mazzoleni, who performed well in the Alpine stages of the Tour de France, as well as Italians Daniele Nardello and Lorenzo Bernucci, who placed second overall at the Sachsen-Tour. Stephan Schreck, Luxembourg champion Kim Kirchen and sprinter André Greipel round out the roster.
Riders: Lorenzo Bernucci, Linus Gerdemann, André Greipel, Kim Kirchen, Eddy Mazzoleni, Daniele Nardello, Stephan Schreck, Patrik Sinkewitz
Directeur-sportif: Valerio Piva
