Matthias Kessler will lead the T-Mobile team at Sunday’s "Rund um die Nürnberger Altstadt" in Germany. The Nuremberg-native will be joined at his home race by the two Tour starters Mick Rogers from Australia and the German Patrik Sinkewitz.
In Olaf Pollack, sports director Mario Kummer has nominated a rider with an excellent track record on the circuit in Nuremberg. The 32 year-old sprinter won the 2001 edition of the UCI cat. 1.1. race and should be a podium contender in the event of a bunch sprint finish in front of the city's opera house.
The same goes for British Mark Cavendish, who is riding his third race as a stagiaire for the squad. At the last week's Tour of Britain, Cavendish bagged several podium placings and claimed the points jersey in an excellent break-out performance.
Rounding out the roster will be Dutchman Bram Schmitz, who is making his competitive comeback after a long period of illness.
"It will certainly be a fast race on a demanding parcours, but at 156 km the distance isn’t too long," said Mario Kummer. After nine laps of a larger rolling circuit - total distance 116 km - the successor to 2005 winner Ronny Scholz (Gerolsteiner) is likely to be decided over eight laps of a smaller old town circuit - total distance 40 km.
