The Vacansoleil team (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Professional Continental team Vacansoleil is busy planning its pre-season training camps, taking place in Benidorm on the Meditarrenean coast of Spain. Riders and staff of the Dutch squad will meet in the popular holiday location from December 12-18 for a first camp, then gather there again during two weeks in January. The exact dates are still to be scheduled.
The team's most prominent riders, the Feillu brothers, will both start next season early. Brice and Romain Feillu will give their 2010 debut in their homeland, France, at the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise. The first race of the French Cup next year will take place on January 31, 2010.
Romain, a sprinter by nature, will then participate in the Tours of Qatar and Oman in February, while his brother Brice, a climber, targets the Tour Méditerranéen and the Ruta del Sol.
Brice Feillu rode himself into the limelight by winning the seventh stage of the Tour de France this year. Romain, a silver medallist at the 2006 U23 Worlds, was able to wear the yellow jersey in the 2008 Tour for one day.
The Vacansoleil team will look to perform well as soon as next season gets underway, as it is hoping to be allotted a wildcard for the Tour de France by race organiser ASO. The squad's objective will be to impress the French company with strong performances, especially in Qatar and Oman - events also organised by ASO.
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