Gentle giant: Andrè Greipel (Team Columbia - High Road) was 25th on the opening stage. (Image credit: Elmar Krings)
The German cycling federation (BDR) named 18 men to its preliminary selection for September's world championship road race, to be held this year in Mendrisio, Switzerland.
11 riders on the list, released on Tuesday, have been drawn from the Columbia-HTC and Milram squads. Current world time trial champion, Bert Grabsch, was named alongside trade teammates Tony Martin, Marcus Burghardt, Marcel Sieberg and André Greipel.
Milram's Gerald Cioleck, Marcus Fothen, Johannes Fröhlinger, Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees and Fabian Wegmann also appear on the list that will be reduced to a final 12 prior to the championships.
The Current German national champion, Martin Reimer, is also named, alongside Cervelo teammate Heinrich Haussler.
The winner of stage 13 at this year's Tour de France, Haussler is currently transferring his riding licence from Germany to Australia, where he was born.
"Heinrich Haussler has been informed of his nomination, and we will keep in contact," said Sprenger. "If he wants to go, he gets the chance."
Haussler has not raced for Germany for the past two years in an effort satisfy the UCI's criteria for a change in national representation. The UCI states that a rider must not race for their current country for three years in order to be eligible to compete for a new nation.
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The following 18 riders have been selected to the BDR's preliminary world championship team:
