T-Mobile's Brits making their season debut

By Susan Westemeyer

T-Mobile's two Brits will be making their season debut in magenta this week. Mark Cavendish and Roger Hammond will race in the GP d'Ouverture La Marseillaise and the Etoile de Bessèges, both in France.

Cavendish, only 21 years-old, rode for T-Mobile as a stagaire at the end of the past season, and is looking forward to his season debut. "It is really exciting to get my first opportunity to race as a full T-Mobile Team rider this week," he said. "I have trained really hard over the winter and can't await to begin competition. Roger has been a fantastic mentor to me over the past few months and it is great that we both get to make our debuts in the same event. We are both obviously very keen to impress in France this week ahead of the start of the ProTour in March."

Directeur Sportif Alan Peiper, who is also making his debut with the team, said, "Mark is really fast. I was watching him during sprint training on Mallorca, and the way he sprints is very aggressive. Roger can help him adapt and take advantage of that."

Cycling will have a high profile in the UK in 2007, and T-Mobile's two British riders will want to be a part of that. In July, the Tour of France's prologue will be in London and the first stage in Kent. The Tour of Britain will be run in September.