Columbias line up for the TDU

[RICHARDH]

2009 Tour Down Under will be led by Team Manager, Alan Peiper (AUS) and include riders: Andre Greipel (GER), George Hincapie (USA), Michael Rogers (AUS), Bernhard Eisel (AUT), Mark Renshaw (AUS), Greg Henderson (NZ) and Adam Hansen (AUS).

Quoted from another forum, by helpful bloke that forgot to name source

Very strong list hopefully this will be a sign of the kind of names we will get this year

[Tom Marius]

looks like a good list

[toolonglegs]

now if Rodgers can only get back to the form he had when he crashed in the 2007 tour he will win the tour next year.I think a lot of people forget he climbed easily on Rasmussens arse on the climb till he crashed on the descent...and of course he can TT!.

[RICHARDH]

He was my dads pick for this year but he couldnt get the body right. In form his definately there real GC guy esspically since Gerdamanns left for milram.

[Chuck]

now if Rodgers can only get back to the form he had when he crashed in the 2007 tour he will win the tour next year.I think a lot of people forget he climbed easily on Rasmussens arse on the climb till he crashed on the descent...and of course he can TT!.

Strong team too.

Would love to see him in the mix at next years tour, but will Cavendish's ability to win multiple stages mean that he is the main focus ?

[toolonglegs]

now if Rodgers can only get back to the form he had when he crashed in the 2007 tour he will win the tour next year.I think a lot of people forget he climbed easily on Rasmussens arse on the climb till he crashed on the descent...and of course he can TT!.

Strong team too.

Would love to see him in the mix at next years tour, but will Cavendish's ability to win multiple stages mean that he is the main focus ?

Possibly...but there where plenty of people in the mix riding for themselves this year.I think with so many GC riders next year and a much easier route designed to keep everybody within striking distance till the final climb it could (fingers crossed!) go to anyone.As long as it comes down to who was the best rider on Ventoux next year it will be a good tour in my books!.

[chris641]

Rodgers won't be too disadvantaged by the team working for Cavendish. After all that will only happen on the flat stages, where he wont be needing too much assistance anyway. The team would surely turn the focus to Rodgers when it gets to the mountain stages?

[toolonglegs]

Rodgers won't be too disadvantaged by the team working for Cavendish. After all that will only happen on the flat stages, where he wont be needing too much assistance anyway. The team would surely turn the focus to Rodgers when it gets to the mountain stages?

Depends how much the team wears itself out on the flats...especially if Cavendish is after green.But will be a bumpy funny tour so who knows.

[Chuck]

Depends how much the team wears itself out on the flats...especially if Cavendish is after green

Correct.

Going for green means he'll want the intermediate sprints too on stages that he won't be able to win. He'll want leadouts for that. He'll also need help from teammates to get to Paris, especially in the mountains.

Not sure that the team could assist them both. Hope Im wrong though.

[RICHARDH]

And Cav sounds like the kind of guy that wants the team a hundred % commited to him. Having said that Columbia dont seem like a team that would be happy with just green jerseys

[RICHARDH]

cyclingnews.com

Down Under debutantes announce lineups
Making their ProTour debut at the 2009 Tour Down Under, Garmin Slipstream and Team Katusha have announced who will travel to Australia in January.

After signing for the Russian outfit this season, Robbie McEwen will return to a happy hunting ground with former Predictor-Lotto teammate Gert Steegmans. The Belgian has also signed for Katusha, and the pair will be reunited in their first race together since the 2006 season.

Matt White also returns to competition in Australia's biggest race, albeit as a directeur sportif for the Garmin squad. White enjoyed his first season in the position this year and with the likes of Julian Dean, Trent Lowe and Chris Sutton at his disposal, the American team will surely be at the pointy end of the results.

Tour Down Under Race Director Mike Turtur said of the latest announements, "It's great to see two new teams joining the UCI ProTour. And I am pleased that Team Katusha is being spearheaded by Australian sprinter Robbie McEwen." He added that, "It will be great to see Matt [White] back at the event, now on the other side of the competition."

Team Katusha for Tour Down Under: Robbie McEwen (Aus), Geert Steegmans (Bel), Kenny De Haes (Bel), Juan Horrach (Esp), Stijn Vandenbergh (Bel), Sergey Klimov (Rus) and Nikolay Trusov (Rus). DS: Dmitri Konyshev (Rus)

Garmin Slipstream for Tour Down Under: Julian Dean (NZl), Trent Lowe (Aus), Timmy Duggan (USA), Chris Sutton (Aus), Ryder Hesjedal (Can), Cameron Meyer (Aus) and Christian Meier (Can). DS: Matthew White (Aus)

Maybe not as strong as the Columbia team (definately the Garmin team is a young one) but lots of aussies and ill be very intrested to see how Trent Lowe goes his due for some big results.