Olaf Pollack will lead the T-Mobile team at Wednesday's Tour of Denmark, with the team expected back the German sprinter in the bunch sprints that may conclude any of the six stages.
The sprinters may not completely have it all their way, however, as T-Mobile manager Brian Holm pointed out, "The race generally covers a lot of flat parcours, but there are a few short sharp climbs in the race itinerary." The former Telekom pro is very familiar with the quirks of racing in his homeland. "You are never far from the sea, so the wind is always a significant factor and it regularly breaks up the pack. It can then be very hard to close these gaps," said Holm.
Joining Pollack in his hunt for stage wins are his lead-out man André Korff, all-rounder Thomas Ziegler, classics specialists Sergey Ivanov and Bas Giling, with Scott Davis and Bernhard Kohl also in action
The race marks Eric Baumann's long awaited comeback from an injury lay-off. The sprinter suffered a broken fibula and tibia in a crash at the Volta ao Algarve in mid-February and has been on the sidelines ever since. "Eric will be eased back into racing. We shouldn't and won't expect too much from him," said Holm.
CSC top the list of teams for their home race and they will be joined by four other ProTour outfits - Davitamon-Lotto, Liquigas, Gerolsteiner and T-Mobile. Some of Europe's top continental teams - Unibet.com, Panaria, Barloworld, Chocolade Jacques, Skil-Shimano, LPR and Intel-Action - also feature in the 16 team line-up at the UCI 2.HC race.
Stages
Stage 1 - August 2: Frederikshavn - Viborg, 215 km
Stage 2 - August 3: Aalestrup - Vejle, 185 km
Stage 3 - August 4: Kolding - Odense, 205 km
Stage 4 - August 5: Sorø - Hillerød, 100 km
Stage 5 - August 5: Helsingør, 14 km
Stage 6 - August 6: Gilleleje - Frederiksberg, 155 km
Total: 875 km
