Luxembourg adds three more, but waits to announce Cancellara

The Luxembourg-based team of Fränk and Andy Schleck has yet to announce the arrival of Swiss star Fabian Cancellara, but confirmed today three more riders for next year. Danes Anders Lund and Martin Mortensen, and Dutchman Tom Stamsnijder bring the official team count up to 20.

It said that they are "three riders that the team management knows will fit well within the structure of the group while providing solid support throughout the year to the team leaders."

Confirmed riders on team Luxembourg:

Fränk Schleck (from Saxo Bank)

Andy Schleck (Saxo Bank)

Davide Viganò (Sky)

Daniele Bennati (Liquigas-Doimo)

Giacomo Nizzolo (amateur)

Bruno Pires (Barbot)

Jens Voigt (Saxo Bank)

Maxime Monfort (HTC-Columbia)

Wouter Weylandt (Quick Step)

Dominic Klemme (Saxo Bank)

Fabian Wegmann (Milram)

Linus Gerdemann (Milram)

Jakob Fuglsang (Saxo Bank)

Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil)

William Clarke (amateur)

Stefan Denifl (Cervélo TestTeam)

Stuart O'Grady (Saxo Bank)

Anders Lund (Saxo Bank)

Tom Stamsnijder (Rabobank)

Martin Mortensen (Vacansoleil)

"I want to grow as a professional and improve things like my time trialling," said Tom Stamsnijder, "but most importantly I want to prove my worth."

The 25-year-old turned professional in 2007 and has yet to win, but team sports director, Kim Andersen believes that he can develop into a "great" classics rider.

It is the same for Mortensen, who joined from Dutch team, Vacansoleil with Brice Feillu.

"Martin is a good strong rider in the Classics and has made a lot of progress this past season," said Andersen. "He is only 25 and is already a good rider with a lot of room for growth."

Lund joins the still unnamed team after three years with his country's team, Saxo Bank. He is the seventh rider so far to switch from Saxo Bank and likely paving the way for the announcement of Fabian Cancellara.

Cancellara announced in September that he would leave Saxo Bank one year early. He reportedly paid €1.83 million - or one and a half times his 1.2m-euro contract he had with Saxo Bank for next year - to annul his contract.

Cancellara's contract and that of Andy Schleck, second in the last two editions of the Tour de France, boosted the team to the top of a UCI ranking that came out on Tuesday. The ranked a list was based on the first 15 riders' contracts the teams had to submit to the UCI's ProTeam licence commission by October 22.

The Luxembourg-based team is due to the rest of the staff and its head sponsors soon. Four other riders are linked with the new team.

Unconfirmed:

Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank)

Joost Posthuma (Rabobank)

Robert Wagner (Skil-Shimano)

Matteo Tosatto (Quick Step)