Team Gerolsteiner will depart to the Dutch stage race Ster Elektrotoer with two Giro d'Italia stage winners: Stefan Schumacher and Robert Förster. Although directeur sportif Christian Wegmann prefers to play it low as to the expectancies lying on the two Germans, and particularly Schumacher, the team knows it has a card to play. "After the Giro, we have to wait and see how Stefan's form is coming along," Wegmann said on Tuesday, one day prior to the race start in Schijndel. "But we will surely pick a couple of stages and put on a good pedal stroke there. Then, if ever there is an opportunity also for the GC, we'll be in the game, for sure. And we have Förster for the sprints."
The first half-stage on Wednesday, June 14, will see the riders taking on an 11km-time trial - the first opportunity for Schumacher, but also for Michael Rich, who won in that same discipline at the Ster Elektrotoer last year. The full Gerolsteiner line-up will be: Robert Förster, Thomas Fothen, Torsten Hiekmann, Volker Ordowski, Michael Rich and Stefan Schumacher.
