A two-pronged Tour strategy for Davitamon-Lotto

By Anthony Tan in Bad Zurzach

After their successful 'experiment' at the first Grand Tour of the year, the Giro d'Italia, Davitamon-Lotto directeur-sportif Hendrik Redant has said the team will follow through with a similarly balanced line-up of riders at the 2005 Tour de France.

Speaking with Cyclingnews at the Stage 4 start of the Tour de Suisse in Vaduz, Redant, team manager at the race, was quietly confident about the team's two-pronged race strategy come July. After all, it worked in Italy, where super-sprinter Robbie McEwen won three stages in the first two weeks, and 26 year-old Belgian revelation Wim Van Huffel rode into Milano as the 11th best rider in the race.

"Yeah, for sure, Robbie winning three stages is perfect, of course", said Redant, "and it was a mixed team."

"Normally, if we go to Italy, we make a team especially for Robbie, but this time, we had a mix with some general classification riders in Wim Van Huffel, [Mauricio] Ardila and [Christophe] Brandt. In the beginning, they even worked really hard to get Robbie in front, so it was nice to see that - and we also won the Super Team classification, as well as Wim Van Huffel being one of the revelations of the season. I think we can look back on a really special Tour of Italy for us."

Click here for the full low-down on Davitamon's Tour plans.