bicycle.net -- World Road Championships 2009 :: cycling news, product reviews, original essays, podcasts & video

PARIS, June 25, 2009 (AFP) – Italian team Liquigas have pinned their Tour de France victory hopes on four of the nine riders they named in their team on Thursday for the July 4-26 event which begins in Monaco.

Czech Roman Kreuziger, who battled for the race’s white jersey last year, joins Italian trio Daniele Bennati, Vincenzo Nibali and Franco Pellizotti in carrying the team’s hopes of stage wins and a good showing in the race for the yellow jersey.

“Bennati, Kreuziger, Nibali and Pellizotti are the four riders that will shoulder our ambitions for the race,” said team manager Roberto Amadio.

“The first ambition is to finish among the top ten in the general classification, that would be a great result for our two young riders (Kreuziger and Nibali).

“The second ambition is stage wins, either in the sprints (Bennati) or on the climbs (Pellizotti).”

Kreuziger recently had a strong ride at the nine-stage Tour of Switzerland and finished 13th overall on the Tour de France last year, where he was beaten to the white jersey, for the best-placed rider aged 25 and under, by Luxembourg’s Andy Schleck.

Earlier this week Nibali won the Tour of the Apennines, having finished an encouraging seventh in the Dauphine Libere, a warm-up for the Tour.

Team:
Daniele Bennati (ITA), Roman Kreuziger (CZE), Aliaksandr Kuchynski (BLR), Vincenzo Nibali (ITA), Franco Pellizotti (ITA), Fabio Sabatini (ITA), Brian Vandborg (DEN), Alessandro Vanotti (ITA), Frederik Willems (BEL)