Jonathan Vaughters' US development team TIAA-CREF has received an invitation to participate in the Route du Sud. After solid results in both the Tour of Normandie and the Tour de Georgia, the organization of the Route du Sud decided to invite The American based Continental team to the race, whose former winners include Laurent Jalabert and Levi Leipheimer. This will be the major summer objective for Team TIAA-CREF, and will hopefully give a few of its riders the opportunity to perform in front of ProTour teams looking for young talent.
Vaughters, a former Route du Sud winner, has high hopes for the French race. "Route du Sud will be a good entry point into high level racing for a team like ours," he said. "The top riders tend to be reserved at Route du Sud as they are preparing for the Tour de France, so it allows a young team like ours to perform. With Mike Lange and Craig Lewis, I think we have some climbers capable of top 20 finishes in the Pyrenean stages, but whatever happens, it is a big honour to get to do a race of this level in France."
