Mark Cavendish (HTC-Highroad) (Image credit: Sirotti)
The HTC-Highroad team is sending its top sprinters to the Tour de Suisse, fielding both Mark Cavendish, winner of two stages of the Giro d'Italia and the Scheldeprijs, and Matt Goss, the Milan-San Remo champion.
Switzerland will be a new experience for Goss, who is aiming to be chosen for his first ever Tour de France.
"I'm going really well and I'm looking forward to seeing what I can do in the Tour de Suisse, which is a race I've never done before," Goss said. "After the Tour of California, my last race, I've done a big block of training, my race weight is good, and I'm feeling fine."
"Together with Mark [Cavendish], we'll be looking for at least one stage victory and coming away with some sort of success."
The squad will look to Michael Albasini, fresh off a stage win and third overall in the Bayern Rundfahrt and a victory in the GP Kanton Aargau, for the overall classification in his home country, as well as Tejay Van Garderen and Peter Velits.
"We've got three guys for the overall and some great all-arounders like Bert Grabsch, Bernie Eisel and Martin Velits for the teamwork," said director Allan Peiper.
"Mark and Matt worked really well in last year's Tour of Spain sprints, so we've got that area wrapped up too. All in all, it's a very strong team."
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HTC-Highroad for Tour de Suisse: Michael Albasini, Mark Cavendish, Bernhard Eisel, Matt Goss, Bert Grabsch, Martin Velits, Peter Velits, Tejay Van Garderen.
The Movistar team will also be vying for the sprint victories with José Joaquín Rojas and Francisco Ventoso. Katusha will not be fielding 2007 Tour de Suisse champion Vladimir Karpets.
Movistar for Tour de Suisse: Pablo Lastras, Branislau Samoilau, Mauricio Soler, Marzio Bruseghin, Iván Gutiérrez, Ángel Madrazo, José Joaquín Rojas, Fran Ventoso.
Katusha for Tour de Suisse: Pavel Brutt, Giampaolo Caruso, Danilo Di Luca, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Alberto Losada, Artem Ovechkin, Luca Paolini, Alexandr Pliuschin
