The Rabobank team has announced its eight-man squad for Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix, naming an all-Dutch line up. The team has named two 24-year-olds as captains for the race in former World cyclocross champion Lars Boom and Sebastian Langeveld. Both were strong in last weekend’s Ronde van Vlaanderen. Boom was active at the front in the mid part of the race but faded in the latter stages; Langeveld managed to stay near the front for the entire race and finished in 22nd place in the main group.
Tom Leezer crashed out of Sunday’s Ronde, hurting his knee in the process. He was rested for yesterday’s Scheldeprijs but is expected to be fully recovered in time for this weekend. Rick Flens, Tom Leezer and Tom Stamsnijder all rode strongly for the team in the Ronde, but failed to finish. Marten Tjallingi finished in 49th place, while Joost Posthuma came in 86th but has now fully recovered from the cold that caused him to miss the Volta a Catalunya.
The big name missing from the team is classics specialist Nick Nuyens. The Belgian does historically prefer the classics of his own country than the Hell of the North over the border in France. He was a non-finisher in last weekend’s Ronde though, after a series of crashes in the previous week’s E3 Prijs Vlaanderen upset his preparation. Nuyens is replaced in the team by Jos Van Emden.
Rabobank team for Paris-Roubaix:
Lars Boom
Jos Van Emden
Rick Flens
Sebastian Langeveld
Tom Leezer
Joost Posthuma
Tom Stamsnijder
Maarten Tjallingi
Director sportifs:
Erik Dekker and Nico Verhoeven.