The T-Mobile Team is sending a six-man roster to this weekend's GP Triberg-Schwarzwald in Germany and the GP Kanton Aargau in Switzerland. On Saturday, Linus Gerdemann spearheads the magenta challenge in Germany's hilly Black Forest region.
The talented young German rider gave a demonstration of his climbing skills at the recent Volta a Catalunya where he finished sixth overall on a tough parcours, and he won't be short of a challenge when he lines up in Triberg on Saturday morning. The course takes the riders on seven 23.2 km loops, with a total 4,000 metres in elevation gain over a distance of 162.4 km; this roughly equals the demands of a tough mountain stage at the Tour de France.
Supporting Linus Gerdemann on Saturday are the experienced classics specialists Andreas Klier and Steffen Wesemann, all-rounder Thomas Ziegler and sprinter André Korff. Frantisek Rabon, fresh off riding the Giro all the way to Milan, rounds out the T-Mobile roster.
On Sunday, following the GP Schwarzwald, the same six-man roster travels south to the Swiss town of Gippingen, nearly 100 kilometres south of Triberg for the GP Kanton Aargau. Steffen Wesemann, who lives in nearby Küttingen, should have good memories of the 19.6 km race circuit and its two second category climbs; he won the prestigious race back in 2000.
The T-Mobile Team start in Switzerland without any designated leader, however, Andreas Klier, Thomas Ziegler and Linus Gerdemann are expected to go into the race all guns blazing, as should naturalised Swiss Steffen Wesemann. "We will wait to see how the race unfolds to work out our strategy and tactic," said directeur-sportif Valerio Piva in a team statement.
Riders: Linus Gerdemann, Andreas Klier, André Korff, Frantisek Rabon, Steffen Wesemann, Thomas Ziegler
Directeur-sportif: Valerio Piva
