Cervélo unveils Tour de France team

The Swiss Cervélo Test Team today unveiled its final Tour de France team with just ten days to go before the start of the race in the principality of Monaco.

Carlos Sastre, last year's victor and winner of two stages in the recent Giro d'Italia, will lead the team in its debut Tour appearance. 

Supporting him will be Iñigo Cuesta and Volodymir Gustov, both of whom were former CSC team-mates of Sastre's when the Spaniard took the Tour last year; both are strong climbers.

Further support in the mountains will be given by José Angel Gomez Marchante, another fine climber, who won the Tour of the Basque Country in 2006. 

"The decision for the final Tour de France Team was certainly not an easy one," explained Cervélo team manager, Thomas Campana.

"Though we are fortunate to have many excellent riders who are in good shape and ready for the Tour, in the end only nine riders per team are allowed to start.

"The goal, for our first Tour de France, will be for a top result in the GC with defending champion Carlos Sastre. The team will provide Carlos with their full support to help him achieve this goal."

The inclusion of sprinters Heinrich Haussler and Thor Hushovd shows that the team is not geared entirely around Sastre, however, and winning stages is obviously a priority.

"Another major goal for us will be to help our sprint ace Thor Hushovd, win the green jersey. Thor won it in 2005 and we believe he can do it again with this team. We are ready and the team is looking forward to an exciting three weeks of racing.”

As reported earlier today by cyclingweekly.co.uk, Simon Gerrans - a stage winner in last year's Tour and this year's Giro - is only second reserve for the Tour team.

Completing the roster are Andreas Klier, Brett Lancaster and Hayden Roulston.

Cervélo Tour de France team:

Carlos Sastre

Iñigo Cuesta

Volodymir Gustov

José Angel Gomez Marchante

Heinrich Haussler

Thor Hushovd

Andreas Klier

Brett Lancaster

Hayden Roulston

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Tour de France 2009 - Cycling Weekly's full coverage