Rabobank brings talent-laden roster to Tour
Perhaps no team enters the Tour de France with as much potential in the race’s four jersey competitions as the Netherlands’ Rabobank squad. With defending two-time King of the Mountains Michael Rasmussen, Russian GC contender Denis Menchov, Spanish sprint star Óscar Freire Gómez and the emerging 22-year-old Thomas Dekker, the team brings riders capable of winning each of the race’s esteemed competitions.
Winning more than one jersey is unlikely for Rabobank, however. Menchov, who finished sixth last year, doesn’t top anyone’s list of GC favorites, and at the team’s pre-race medical check Thursday Dekker said he wouldn’t be aggressively targeting the white jersey of best young rider in his Tour debut. A healthy Rasmussen is an odds-on favorite for a third polka-dot jersey of top climber, but once again, Freire is the team’s wild card.
The three-time world champion — and this year’s Milan-San Remo winner — has had a rollercoaster career marked with big wins and plagued by often unusual, lingering injuries. While Freire said he’s recovered from his crash at the Tour of Switzerland last month, the Spaniard has again been plagued by saddle issues that forced him off the bike at the tail end of the 2005 season. This time, Freire said, his pain stems from a cyst on the opposite side as it did two years ago.
“I still have a little bit of pain from the crash at Switzerland, but it’s not the big problem at this race,” Freire told VeloNews. “Once again I have a problem, it’s with my ass. I’m very worried. We’ll see what will happen. I don’t have a lot of time for recovery.”
Freire said he recently switched saddles, which might have led to his condition. After two days of training, he felt pain under his sit bone, the bottom part of the pelvic girdle, known as the ischial tuberosity. Freire has since swapped back to his previous saddle. The cyst, he said, is under his skin, making treatment difficult.
“It’s the worst place,” Freire said. “If it’s outside the skin, maybe it’s good, you can treat it, but under the skin you can only treat it with cream.”
Asked how he thought the dynamics of the bunch kicks might change with Milram’s lead-out train no longer setting up for Alessandro Petacchi. The Italian star was taken out of the race earlier this week due to a drugs suspension. Freire said winning sprints is difficult no matter who is on the start list.
“Petacchi is a very important rider, but at the Tour there are a lot of sprinters,” Freire said. “Now it’s less complicated, but it’s always very complicated to win a stage. Here in the Tour it’s difficult to control the last two kilometers. I think in the last four years we haven’t seen a lead-out train in the final two kilometers.”
While Freire will likely target stage wins rather than make a bid for the green points jersey, Rasmussen said his objectives will remain the same as they were last year — a support role for Menchov and, if the situation presents itself, a mountainous stage win that lends itself to KOM glory.
“It doesn’t have to be one thing or another, and I think last year was a good example of that,” Rasmussen said. “I rode in the service of Menchov for the whole Tour, and took just one day off and got away with the stage win and the jersey, so it was pretty good. Last year showed me that it’s not too late to change objectives after the Alps. It’s possible to get away with something important even when you’re having one or two good days here.”
Rasmussen said he has returned to the Tour in condition similar to last year, no small feat after breaking his left femur last October in the Giro dell'Emilia.
“My condition is pretty much the same as I was last year,” the Dane said. “Hopefully the results will be the same also. My leg injury is still there, it’s not going away from one day to the other, but it’s not really bothering me on the bike. I’m feeling good. I’m ready to get a number on my back and get this show on the road.”
As for Dekker, the young Dutch star will receive plenty of attention at his Tour debut. The overall winner of the Tour of Romandie in May, Dekker was slated to take his Tour debut in 2006 but was sidelined with an injury. Though he’s still affected by hip inflammation stemming back to a pile-up with a TV moto at Tirreno-Adriatico in March, Dekker said he comes to his first Tour in good shape.
“I have a good level,” Dekker said. “I had a good Tour of Switzerland and a good national championship. I feel good and I hope I can do something nice in this Tour. It’s my first Tour de France, I’m a young rider and I just want to have the experience and help my team with some good results, and maybe there will be a day when I can have my own chance.”
Asked about targeting the white jersey or any specific stages, Dekker said he would take the race day by day.
“Anything is possible, but it’s three weeks and it’s a long time for a young rider,” Dekker said. “Sure, it’s in my mind, but I’m going to see what happens and see what the result is in Paris. It’s so difficult, you have stages for the sprint, time trials, uphill finishes and there are so many riders who are strong and everybody wants to win. I think you must try to get your chance — either go in a group, or if you are really strong you can win maybe with the first guys. I’m just going to wait and see what happens. Menchov is the number one for the team, and I think he deserves to have some strong riders who can help him.”
