Hammond Looks for Le Tour Spot at Swiss Tour
Story posted June 15
T-Mobile Press Release
Twice a former British Road Race champion, T-Mobile cyclist Roger Hammond will have a final opportunity to stake his claim for a spot on this year’s Tour de France at the 71st edition of the week-long Tour de Suisse which begins on Saturday (16th June). Hammond will be joined in the Pyrenees and Swiss Alps by T-Mobile’s core Tour de France squad, as they step up their preparations for the summer showcase, and he will be looking to impress once again ahead of the announcement of the T-Mobile Tour de France line-up, expected next week.
Spearheading the T-Mobile roster at the Swiss climb-fest is team captain Michael Rogers. Two years ago Rogers came very close to the overall win in Switzerland, only losing out on the yellow jersey to Aitor Gonzalez on a dramatic final stage. On the back of his fine second overall at the Tour of Catalonia, the Australian is in relaxed mood ahead of the next big step in his build-up to ‘Le Tour’.
Roger Hammond “I am excited to get stuck into the mountains in Switzerland, in what is effectively my last opportunity to impress ahead of next month’s Tour de France. It would be fantastic to be a part of the Tour de France when it comes to the UK this summer and I hope that I can do enough here to make my case. The Tour de Suisse is a very tough race but I am confident that as a team we could pick up some stage wins.”
Michael Rogers “I want to keep on building my Tour form by getting the hard race kilometres into the legs that I will need in France. I will certainly go out to try and win a stage or two in Switzerland, and will be paying less attention to the GC.”
German Linus Gerdemann has shown his best form at the Tour de Suisse in past years, placing seventh overall last year and taking a solo stage win there as a neo-pro on 2005. Runner-up that day was Lorenzo Bernucci, then in the colours of Fassa Bortolo but now lining up on Saturday alongside Gerdemann.
Sporting Directors Valerio Piva and Brian Holm will also be looking to Patrik Sinkewitz to show his form in Switzerland. The ‘Henninger-Turm’ winner has the climbing qualities to figure at the business-end of stages in what will be an extremely tough week of racing. Rounding out the magenta roster are the Italian veteran Giuseppe Guerini, Luxemburg champion Kim Kirchen and the classics specialists Marcus Burghardt and Andreas Klier.
With four summit finishes in nine days, plus two time trials, the organisers have designed a very tough race geared towards climbing specialists and all-rounders. Even the three stages that don’t finish at the top of a hill both have tough climbs to contend with en route. The world’s fourth biggest stage race kicks-off with a 3.8km prologue in Olten, and if the final GC picture is not conclusively decided on the climbs along the way, then all will be settled by a grandstand 34.2km time-trial finale in Berne. All 20 ProTour teams will be at the start line, with the only wildcard going to Austrian Continental team Volksbank.
The T-Mobile roster in brief: Markus Burghardt (23/Germany), Linus Gerdemann (24/Germany), Giuseppe Guerini (37/Italy), Roger Hammond (33/Great Britain), Kim Kirchen (28/Luxembourg), Andreas Klier (31/Germany), Michael Rogers (27/Australia), Patrik Sinkewitz (26/Germany). Sporting directors: Valerio Piva (48/Italy) and Brian Holm (44/Denmark)
Stages in brief:
16.June Prologue: Olten, 3,8 km
17.June Stage 1: Olten - Lucerne, 158,6 km
18.June Stage 2: Brunnen – Nauders (Austria), 228,7 km
19.June Stage 3: Nauders - Malbun (Liechtenstein), 167,2 km
20.June Stage 4: Vaduz - Giubiasco, 194,1 km
21.June Stage 5: Giubiasco - Crans-Montana, 190,5 km
22 June Stage 6: Ulrichen - Grimselpass, 125,7 km
23 June Stage 7: Innertkirchen - Schwarzsee, 152,5 km
24 June Stage 8: Berne, 34,2 km
Total: 1.251 km
