T-Mobile: Rogers over injury problems

By Shane Stokes in London

Having finished tenth in last year's Tour de France, Australian Michael Rogers will lead the team in this year's Tour de France. His participation looked a little uncertain when he pulled out of the Tour de Suisse two weeks ago due to a knee problem, but T-Mobile's Luuc Eisenga has said that this is no longer an issue.

"Michael is okay, his knee is better," he told Cyclingnews. "We will take it from here. He is the likely leader for the Tour but we also have Kim Kirchen, who did a very good Tour de Suisse, and Patrik Sinkewitz. He is also going well. We don't have a clear favourite for the Tour and I see that as an advantage.

"We will take things how it comes, leading off with Michael at the start. We think that top 10 is a possibility, and if he finishes in the top five that would be great. But there is no really big pressure to win the Tour."

The team is not just about these three. "We have other guys here who are in the race to gain experience, to try and win a stage. Mark Cavendish is of course excited, especially as it starts in London. It is probably the only time in his career that the Tour will start over here.

"There will be no pressure at all from us. It would be stupid to say that he has to win a stage. He is here to gain experience and that if he gets good results, well then that is fine."

Eisenga declined to say if Cavendish would be the team's protected sprinter. T-Mobile also has Bernhard Eisel here. "I am not going to discuss the tactics already," he said. "But both he and Eisel are definitely the best sprinters that we have on the team."