Smells like team spirit; CSC Ready for Tour challenge

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By Shane Stokes in London

Carlos Sastre and his eight teammates were presented to the media in London Excel Centre on Friday. Teamwork and solidarity has long been cited as one of the defining philosophies of the CSC team and that was underlined at the presentation. Many of the conferences held thus far have seen just one or two key players sitting down for the Q&A sessions, thus sparing the other riders, but the Danish team turned up en masse to give their thoughts on the three weeks ahead.

Kitted out in black, red and white Descente tracksuits, the squad was relaxed and spoke for approximately half an hour before moving off to do its pre-Tour medical exam. As was the case in 2006, Carlos Sastre is once again the designated team leader but this time round he has been given a green light to prepare for the race as he wished. His route to the Tour was a little different to twelve months ago; instead of riding the Giro [which he did in support of Ivan Basso], he instead trained more, raced less and fine-tuned his form in the recent Tour de Suisse. He is hoping that this will see him arrive at the race with greater reserves than before and thus perform strongly in the tough final week.

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Sastre took fourth last year. If Floyd Landis is disqualified, he will move up to third place and on that basis, and the fact that he was the most consistent climber last July, he should be one of the big danger men in the race. When asked whom he considered his main rivals he declined to name names, saying that their identities will be revealed soon enough.

"I have respect for all of them because I think they are here like me," he said, "in the best shape that they could be. I have spent a lot of energy to arrive in the Tour de France in the best condition. As soon as we start the race we will see who is good and who is not so good.

"For me the Tour of Suisse was some hard training, some specific training. I tried to help the team as much as I could there. After that race, I took two days slowly, that acting as a small rest, and then I continued with my training. Everything was okay and I feel ready now."

"I have confidence in my team, I have confidence in myself. Tomorrow [the prologue] we have a nice test. Tomorrow we start the Tour de France and we hope that we can start by riding well."

The Spaniard's likely right hand man in the mountains will be Tour de Suisse stage winner Fränk Schleck. He's been touted as one for the future and certainly has the ability to figure prominently during the race. The Luxembourg rider knows that the opposition will be formidable, but said that he will do everything he can to ensure that his team leader will be in the running.

"Right now we know that Carlos is in great shape. I don't know how good I will be but I just know that I will give 100 percent to Carlos. On the hard days, it will be up to me to help as much as possible. I will sacrifice myself for him."

He revealed that his brother's unexpected second place overall in the Giro d'Italia has acted as an additional motivating factor. "Before [the Giro] it was always 'Andy, the brother of Fränk'. People say now that Fränk is the brother of Andy. Of course, if he does win, it is like a result is for me, it is like myself winning something.

"It gave me a lot of energy and motivation. I will try to restore the hierarchy in the family; his performances give me motivation to also do well."

Aggressive Strategy

Directeur Sportif Kim Andersen said that the team is very strong and would be certain to leave their mark on the race. "I think that if you look around the table, you can see that it is a strong team. It is a team who has a leader for the general classification. We have riders who will be good in the crono and we have riders to be in the breakaway. We have nine strong riders who are here, who are present to do a good race. I hope that you will see us win overall."

He says it will take some time for clear indications of the true contenders to emerge. "I think we will need to wait for the first mountains in the Alps," he stated. "After that, there will be a break until we get to the Pyrénées. We will also have very hard stages with the two cronos [time trials]. I think the final outcome will be determined quite late."

Of course, Today's prologue will give a rough guide as to who is flying and who is floundering. Fabian Cancellara is by no means an overall contender, but he could well be wearing the first yellow jersey after the 7.9 kilometre test. That would get the team off to a very motivated start.

He was in a focussed mood at the conference. "I think my results in last few races have shown I am in good shape," he stated. "I know what I am here for. I want to win tomorrow. Now the pressure is surely on my shoulders. I have the world championship jersey and in the prologue tomorrow, I am sure that everyone will look at me.

"The good thing is that in Paris-Roubaix this year I learned about working with pressure. I feel more confident about handling that now. I know that when I go fast in races it is hard for people to beat me."

His teammate Dave Zabriskie is another who can do a scorching race against the clock. According to Saunier Duval's David Millar, the fact that the prologue course is relatively non-technical means that the American could be right up there at the end.

"I have not seen the course yet, but I will see it tomorrow," he stated. "Fabian is the big favourite but I will also go 100 percent tomorrow, I think that everyone on the team will. We will see what happens."

Stuart O'Grady also has the power and speed to finish prominently. "I am feeling pretty good at the moment," the Paris-Roubaix winner said. "I have had good preparation, I had a good break after Classics. I have also done a lot of racing in the build-up to the Tour. My form is about where I wanted it to be, about where I expected it to be.

"We have got a fantastic squad here so we will be playing a team role [for Sastre]."

Team presentation photography

For a thumbnail gallery of these images, click here

Images by David Reinhardt

• Announcing the world's biggest bike race. Tour director Christian Prudhomme (left) and Mayor Ken Livingstone
• David Millar (Saunier Duval) eyes the prologue win.
• Iban Mayo (Saunier Duval) rather wants to see the road go uphill.
• A pensive Erik Zabel reflects about the turbulent weeks since his doping admission.
• Erik Zabel (Milram) - in his 13th Tour he wants to improve on his 12 stage wins.
• George Hincapie (Discovery Channel) will ride the Tour in the American champion jersey.
• Levi Leipheimer (Discovery Channel) with the slightly redesigned jersey for the team's green campaign.
• George Hincapie is getting introduced.
• Thomas Voeckler (Bouygues Telecom) is very popular with the French crowd.
• Robbie McEwen (Predictor-Lotto) gets warm applause from the spectators.
• Cadel Evans (Predictor-Lotto) seems already concentrated fully on the Tour.
• Fred Rodriguez (Predictor-Lotto) before the start of La Grande Boucle.
• Haimar Zubeldia (Euskaltel-Euskadi) smiles to the crowd.
• Michael Rasmussen (Rabobank) is looking for another polka-dot jersey.
• Oscar Freire (Rabobank) hopes to overcome his health problems and win some stages.
• Christophe Moreau (Ag2r Prévoyance) hopes for his best-ever Tour, which would put him on the podium.
• Axel Merckx (T-Mobile) all smiles before his last Tour de France.
• Paolo Savoldelli (Astana) is not looking for time trials or uphills, but downhills.
• Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) enjoys the team presentation better than the press conferences.
• Alejandro Valverde (Caisse d'Epargne) is ready to compete for the overall win.
• Tom Boonen (Quickstep-Innergetic) will enjoy the first week more than most of the remaining stages.
• Team Barloworld rides their first Tour de France
• Stuart O'Grady (CSC) - the Paris-Roubaix has had a great season so far and wants to continue it this way.
• Carlos Sastre (CSC) waves to the crowd. He hopes top do the same in three weeks as winner of the 2007 Tour.

Images by Fotoreporter Sirotti

• Tour presentation near Nelson's Column
• A great stage to present the teams.
• David Millar with Saunier Duval on the stage.
• There was quite a crowd.
• T-Mobile presentation
• Astana with Vinokourov.
• Livingstone, Leblanc, Prudhomme
• Agritubel got a wild card.
• Saunier Duval with good hopes for the prologue.
• Milram will be trying for stage wins.
• Liquigas from Italy
• Leipheimer and Hincapie of Discovery Channel
• Discovery Channel
• French team Bouygues Telecom
• Predictor-Lotto
• Euskaltel-Euskadi
• Gerolsteiner will be trying to sparkle
• Française Des Jeux
• Lampre
• Rabobank
• Rasmussen and Boogerd (l-r) are hoping for a good race.
• Ag2r
• T-Mobile
• Astana
• Crédit Agricole will be trying to win stages in its home race.
• Caisse d'Epargne
• Caisse heads Karpets, Pereiro, Valverde (l-r)
• Quickstep-Innergetic
• Barloword in its first Tour
• Team CSC is ready.
• Australian Stuart O'Grady with Schleck and Zabriskie
• Cofidis
• Livingstone, Leblanc, Prudhomme
• David Millar
• Erik Zabel
• Leipheimer and Hincapie
• Aussies Cadel Evans (left) and Robbie McEwen.
• German Champion Fabian Wegmann (Gerolsteiner)
• Stefan Schumacher hopes to win stages.
• French Champion Christophe Moreau
• Australian Michael Rogers (right) eyes the podium.
• Andreas Klöden on the right could also be riding into the top 10.
• Thor Hushovd (Crédit Agricole) wants to win a sprint.
• Pereiro (left) and Valverde with the red bandana, celebrating the Fiesta de Pamplona.
• Tom Boonen
• Patrick Lefevere head of Quickstep
• Fränk Schleck (Team CSC)
• Bradley Wiggins hopes to win the prologue

Images by Roberto Bettini/www.bettiniphoto.net

• Liquigas is up at the presentation
• Bjarne Riis decided to not function as official team manager this time.
• The Dane enjoyed the opening ceremony nonetheless.