T-Mobile ready for Zürich

Steffen Wesemann will lead the T-Mobile Team roster at the 93nd edition of the Championship of Zürich on Sunday. 'Wese' who represented his adopted Swiss homeland at last week's World Championships, will be hoping to use home-advantage to his favour in the prestigious one-day classic.

The ProTour race, also called the Zuri-Metzgete, is set on a tough parcours, which is why the team management has selected a mix of classics specialists and stage racers, with Michael Rogers, and the Italian duo of Eddy Mazzoleni and Daniele Nardello aiming for the podium. Nardello pulled off one of the biggest wins of his career in Zürich in 2003, when eight kilometres from the finish he jumped clear of a select leading group to solo home to victory. Rounding out the roster in Switzerland are Kim Kirchen, Stephan Schreck and Patrik Sinkewitz and young Austrian Bernhard Kohl.

The 241km race starts south-east of Zürich on the shores of Zürichsee and features one large, hilly opening circuit of 71 km, followed by four undulating laps of 41.4km that include the steep climbs of Forch and Pfannenstiel on each lap. The last ascent of the Pfannenstiel with 18 km to go is usually where the final selection is made, but the winning move can also come on the way to the lakeside finish.

"The Züri-Metzgete attracts a strong field, and offers riders a chance to get world’s revenge," said race director Marco Canonica. Freshly-off world champions Paolo Bettini and Fabian Cancellara will be in action, as will Vuelta champion Alexandre Vinokourov.Alongside the 20 ProTour teams, the organisers have invited two Wildcards: Barloworld (South Africa) and Volksbank-Ideal (Austria).

The T-Mobile roster in brief: Kim Kirchen, Bernhard Kohl, Eddy Mazzoleni, Daniele Nardello, Michael Rogers, Stephan Schreck, Patrik Sinkewitz and Steffen Wesemann.