Team CSC's Tour de France line-up 2006 has been officially announced. Led by team director Bjarne Riis, the Danish squad will be composed of the following riders: Ivan Basso, Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, Giovanni Lombardi, Stuart O'Grady, Bobby Julich, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde.
"As so often before it has been a difficult task to select the remaining riders for this team, because we have so many who are in great shape and who have the motivation to do well in Tour de France," said the 1996 Tour de France winner. "But it is a luxury for us to have this problem, and I'm proud our team has reached a point where we have so many strong riders at such a high level.
"We are bringing a fantastic team to Tour de France this year. When you look at the names, you cannot help but notice that this is a team to be reckoned with - a team which has the foundation to be one of the dominating ones in the 2006 edition of the Tour. We go to France this year with one ambition: To win with Ivan Basso. After his victory in the Giro, and with the training he has done in the period since then, I have no doubt he is ready for this next big challenge. He has the class, the willpower and also the team behind him to be one of the favourites," Riis added.
Italian outfit Liquigas has also communicated its team roster for the greatest of Grand Tours. With Stefano Garzelli as a leader for the General Classification, the team will also include Danilo Di Luca, who may go for stage victories at will. The full Liquigas line-up will be: Stefano Garzelli, Danilo Di Luca, Luca Paolini, Manuel Quinziato, Michael Albasini, Patrick Calcagni, Magnus Bäckstedt, Kjell Carlström and Matej Mugerli.
