With the Tour de France more than five months away, RadioShack manager Johan Bruyneel has announced a list of 14 names for the race, according to bicicilismo.com. The long list will be cut down to a final team of nine to pursue Lance Armstrong’s eighth Tour victory, which will depend on riders’ individual performances in June.
Unsurprisingly the list includes the eight riders that made up the Astana Tour team that carried Alberto Contador to victory in the race last year. In addition to these eight riders are Americans Chris Horner and Jason McCartney, both of whom have been on Armstrong’s team in the past (Horner: Astana 2009, McCartney: Discovery Channel 2005), but neither have made the seven-time winner’s Tour de France selection.
Two Belgians also make the list. Sebastien Rosseler is a powerful rouleur and time triallist, whose attributes fit well with previous Armstrong Tour teams; Gert Steegmans on the other hand, as a sprinter, may well be one of the first to be cut. Armstrong has never included a sprinter in his Tour-winning teams as all nine riders have sacrificed virtually all personal ambition in favour of protecting their leader.
RadioShack’ long list for the 2010 Tour de France (* indicates a member of Astana Tour team 2009)
Lance Armstrong (USA) *
Janez Brajkovic (Kaz)
Chris Horner (USA)
Andreas Klöden (Ger) *
Levi Leipheimer (USA) *
Jason McCartney (USA)
Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) *
Sergio Paulinho (Por) *
Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) *
Gregory Rast (Swi) *
Sebastien Rosseler (Bel)
Gert Steegmans (Bel)
Tomas Vaitkus (Lit)
Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) *