The Schleck’s new team is now beginning to take shape in preparation for the 2011 team, but who will be donning the jerseys in the currently named The Luxembourg Pro Cycling Project?
Riders Flee Saxo Bank
First to follow the Luxemburgish pair was the Australian Stuart O’Grady who worked hard for Andy during the 2010 Tour de France. It became obvious that there was no love lost between the two and their Danish director when they were thrown out of the Vuelta a Espana for drinking alcohol. The Australian won gold in the Madison in the 2004 Olympic Games his is also twice world team pursuit champion.
There have been several other Saxo Bank riders who have jumped ship to join the Schleck’s including German old-boy Jens Voigt. Voigt has been a pro since 1997 and won the Criterium International five times. Also in the list of Saxo Bank defects are current Danish time-trial champion Jakob Fuglsang and the possibility of time-trial God Fabian Cancellara.
Liquigas have also lost a rider to the most talked about team coming in to the off season. Italian Daniele Bennati will be the team’s sprinter and Voigt’s protégé Linus Gerdemann will prove strong domestique, an in certain races a team leader.
Tour de France Challenge
With the bleeding of riders from his former team, and the likelihood of Alberto Contador taking part in the 2011 Tour de France slowly diminishing, Andy Schleck has to be number one favourite for next year.
Along with these top riders there some newer and more average riders who will want to prove they deserve a place in the team. Milram rider Fabian Wegmann and HTC Columbia man Maxime Monfort will be able to provide Andy with support he lacked in this year’s Tour de France. Wouter Weylandt and Brice Feillu are the young blood ready to shine next season.
Two other unconfirmed riders are Joost Posthuma from Rabobank and Dominic Klemme also from Saxo Bank. The directeur sportif Kim Anderson, who also fled Riis’ team to kick start the Luxembourg project, claims they have already signed 20 riders. Team manager Brian Nygaard has stated they are looking to build a team of around 25 riders.
Team Shaping Up
No doubt this isn’t the last we will hear of riders defecting to the new Schleck team and Riis will be scrambling for riders to fill the very big shoes left behind. The big question is will we see the same fight for the Tour de France victory and can the Schlecks surround them with riders good enough to help them win. Here is a list of the possible riders for the team:
- Daniele Bennati
- Jens Voigt
- Maxime Monfort
- Wouter Weylandt
- Dominic Klemme
- Jakob Fuglsang
- Stuart O’Grady
- Brice Feillu
- Linus Gerdemann
- Fabian Wegmann
- Frank Schleck
- Andy Schleck
- Fabian Cancellara
- Joost Posthuma
- Dominic Klemme
- Anders Lund
- Martin Mortensen
- Tom Stamsnijder
picture: Jean Pickard Art
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