CSC favourites in Bayern Rundfahrt

Irrespective of the presence of strong local teams in the Bayern Rundfahrt, Team CSC still believe they are considered the favourites, having defending champion Jens Voigt in their squad.

"It was obvious, that even though T-Mobile and Gerolsteiner also have strong teams down here, we're considered the favourites," said directeur sportif Kim Andersen on the team's website, team-csc.com. "First off, no-one wanted to pursue the breakaway, so Linus and Jens attacked on one of the climbs in order to split the peloton into several groups, but everyone came together in the end anyway."

Despite the 'favourites' tag, however, their team still did well in the opening stage from Kempten to Sonthofen, with young Australian recruit Luke Roberts and Voigt finishing fourth and fifth respectively. Unfortunately, Jakob Piil still isn't back to race condition, losing 13'34 yesterday.

Said Andersen: "Jakob apparently has a problem with the back of his thigh, so when the attacks came, he had to keep his own pace, so he wouldn't strain it. But we'll see how it goes tomorrow [Stage 2]."