Omega Pharma - Quick-Step Cycling Team has announced the selection for Critérium du Dauphiné, a 1120.5km stage race from June 2nd to June 9th. the first stage begins in Champery, and the last in Risoul. There is one time trial for this race.
"We have a quite strong team," Sport Director Brian Holm said. "We are balanced and competitive for each kind of final. For the flat stages we have riders like Gianni Meersman and Nikolas Maes. Then we have mountains riders like Sylvain Chavanel, He is always a factor as he was in AMGEN Tour of California — the first race after a long stop, now he is back on track. We have Tony Martin who showed his form in the time trial, and even the climbs, at Tour of Belgium. The time trial will be four stage. It is 32.5km and almost flat, so perfect for a powerful guy like Tony. It is also important to see how we can perform on the climbs prior to the tour."
"We also have a guy like Michal Kwiatkowski, who will be back racing after the classics," Holm continued. "I wouldn't consider him a big favorite for the race, but with him you never know. We're putting no pressure on him and we will just see what he can do. The team will be completed by Frantisek Rabon, Pieter Serry and Martin Velits, who have the task to help the other guys out to make sure they can do a good job and go for top results. For us, this race is not only one of the races for the approach to Le Tour. This race also represents something more, and we're there to fight to try and get a good result."