Tour de France 2007: Boogerd’s last, Dekker debuts; Barloworld feeling aggressive
Rabobank will see a passing of the baton as Michael Boogerd, the major Dutch rider of his generation, starts his final Tour de France while emerging star Thomas Dekker makes his Tour debut.
Boogerd will be starting his 12th consecutive Tour that will also be his last. The 36-year-old will retire at the end of the 2007 season. A winner of two Tour stages and twice in the top 10, Boogerd dreams of one more glory ride before hanging up the cleats this year.
“In other years, I started strongly and felt weaker while nearing the end of the race. Right now, I am not feeling that well because of a knee injury, and hopefully I can finish strongly this time around,” Boogerd said on the team’s web page. “Am I thinking about the fact that this will be last Tour? Actually no, but those thoughts might hit me when we are in Paris. But first, I want to play a prominent role in the race and be there for my teammates during the tough moments.”
With Boogerd stepping aside, it’s the ascendant Dekker who many believe has the potential to become the first Dutch rider to win the Tour since Joop Zoetemelk in 1980.
Overall victory at the Tour de Romandie and a stage at the Tour de Suisse have only fueled media hype about the 22-year-old’s Tour debut. Dekker, however, is trying to remain realistic.
“I have, after all, been plagued by a lingering hip injury the entire spring season. In hindsight, I sometimes wonder how I was able to win both the classification in Romandie as well as that stage in Switzerland?” Dekker said. “I want to support my captains as best as I can and when possible capture a nice prize. I was able to quickly get over missing the Tour last year. My body simply said no. That is frustrating, but I knew I could not venture anything. That makes it easier to accept.”
The Dutch team revealed its Tour lineup Monday in a presentation at the Holland Casino in Valkenburg.
In addition to Boogerd and Dekker, Spanish sprint sensation Oscar Freire will be back along with GC contender Denis Menchov and climbing specialist Michael Rasmussen.
Sport director Erik Breukink said he’d love to see a repeat of last year’s Tour, when the team won stages with three riders and earned the best climber’s jersey.
“Our team is very similar to the one last year,” Breukink said. “We are able to compete in every category; Menchov for the classification, Freire in the sprint stages and Rasmussen in the mountain stages. I am curious about Thomas, but I also have full confidence in his debut. Additionally, we have four other guys who the team is going to really need. Lastly, Michael Boogerd, who is a very important asset with his experience. He can be so important for his captains during the decisive moments.”
Menchov will be hoping to claw his way closer to the final overall podium. Sixth overall last year with a stage win, Menchov has worked on his time trialing to better defend his gains in the mountains.
Rasmussen, meanwhile, will ride for a third consecutive polka-dot climber’s jersey.
RabobankMichael Boogerd (Nl)Bram de Groot (Nl)Thomas Dekker (Nl)Juan Antonio Flecha (Sp)Oscar Freire (Sp)Denis Menchov (Russia)Grischa Niermann (Nl)Michael Rasmussen (Dk)Peter Weening (Nl)
Barloworld readies for Tour debut
Attacks and more attacks are what Barloworld promises in its Tour de France debut.
The British-based team earned one of two priceless Tour wild-card bids and staffers say the team will hold up its end of the bargain.
“We selected a proper team according to our ambitions,” team manager Claudio Corti said on the team’s web page. “We haven’t set ourselves impossible objectives but we are determined to be in the action. We know we’ll have to take on the race and that is what we aim to do every day.”
Veteran Colombian rider Félix Cardénas – winner of a Tour stage in 2001 – will lead the troops in a bid for another mountain success while Alexander Efimkin (not to be confused with twin brother Vladimir of Caisse d’Epargne) is an able climber who will try his hand in the medium mountains. Italian Enrico Degano and South African Robert Hunter will try their luck in the bunch sprints.
BarloworldFélix Cardénas (Col)Gianpaolo Cheula (I)Enrico Degano (I)Alexander Efimkin (Rus)Robert Hunter (RSA)Paolo Longo Borghini (I)Kanstantsin Siutsou (Blr)Mauricio Soler (Col)Geraint Thomas (GB)
