With its GC stars Levi Leipheimer and Georg Totschnig resting after their efforts this season, Team Gerolsteiner will start its first ever Vuelta a España with a team of mostly all-rounders. Sprinter René Haselbacher and time trialist Uwe Peschel are the only specialists within the team, while many of the others will be using the Vuelta to gain experience.
Two riders, Matthias Ruß and Heinrich Haussler, both 21, will be in their first grand tour, and 24 year-old Thomas Ziegler is also relatively light on experience. But team director Reimund Dietzen believes that all his riders have a good chance of stage wins, and that will be the main focus of their strategy.
