August 10/07 9:33 am - Barry Leads Team at Tour de l'Ain

Posted by Editor on 08/10/07
 

Barry Leads Team at Tour de l'Ain
Courtesy T-Mobile

Running in parallel to the Deutschland-Tour, the T-Mobile Team will have a roster in action at the Tour de l'Ain (12.-15.08.) in France next week. Canada's Michael Barry leads the team's challenge in the Rhones-Alpes region, where he will be joined by Australians Scott Davis and Adam Hansen, as well as British classics specialist Roger Hammond.

"Michael Barry was hampered a little by a cold at the Classica San Sebastian last weekend, but I think he has enough form to take on the captain's role at this race," said sporting director Valerio Piva, who will be with the team in eastern France. "This is a very challenging tour, taking in some hard climbs in the Jura mountains. Davis is a strong climber, and we will be hoping that he and Hansen can push for strong finishes on individual stages."

Rounding out the six-man magenta roster at the climb-fest are two stagiares: the 20-year old Russian Andrej Klyuev, who already tasted action with the team at Saturday's 'Rund um die Hainleite' in Germany and the Dutchman Marcel Beima (23). The two trialists will ride a number of races with the team between now and the end of the season.

Piva: "We are bringing a very young team to France. Our two stagiares Klyuev und Beima are strong in the mountains, and hopefully they can both ride to their strengths in these races."

T-Mobile will face very stiff competition at the four-day race (UCI-Cat 2.1): there are ten ProTours teams included in the 17 starters. However, due to illness last year's winner Cyril Dessel (Bouygues Telecom) won't be there to defend his title.

The race's four stages are not so long, but they are very selective. Queen's stage is indisputably the third stage to Culoz, which finishes with a legbreaking haul up to the summit finish on Le Grand Colombier (Cat. HC) at 1.500 m. But the overall win might not be decided until the tough final stage which also includes two first category climbs.

The T-Mobile roster:

Michael Barry (Canada)
Scott Davis (Australia)
Roger Hammond (Great Britain)
Adam Hansen (Australia)
Andrej Klyuev (Russia) - stagiare
Marcel Beima (Netherlands) - stagiares