Seven time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong and team manager Johan Bruyneel have finalised the selection for the RadioShack team for this year’s Tour, with Jani Brajkovic and Chris Horner being named as part of the squad.
The duo will be amongst the strongest support riders for the team’s three biggest names; Armstrong, who is trying to take his first win there in five years, 2007 runner-up Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Klöden, who was sixth last year and second overall in 2004 and 2006.
General manger Johan Bruyneel confirmed the selection today via video.
“We are very satisfied about our month of June,” he led off by saying. “We had two big races – we had the Dauphiné Libere where our young talent JB won the race in a very impressive way. We have just come off the Tour of Switzerland where Lance Armstrong got second place overall, showing some good form.
“The month of June is the month where we prepare for the biggest event of the year, the Tour de France. With that also comes the very difficult task of selecting nine riders to participate in the Tour. Today I am pleased to announce the Tour de France selection for team RadioShack. We have nine riders – it was difficult choosing out of 15 candidates – but the nine names are the following:
“Lance Armstrong, of course, the seven time winner trying to win an eighth time. He will be helped by Andreas Klöden, who is a potential podium finisher, Levi Leipheimer, who was already on the podium in the Tour de France. That is three names. Chris Horner. is going to be there, finally after missing out last year.
“Jani Brajkovic of course, after winning the Dauphiné Libéré. Sergio Paulinho, a very good helper, Yaroslaw Popovych, a very experienced guy. And then we have Gregory Rast from Switzerland and Dimitri Muravyev.”
Brajkovic’s selection comes after a dramatic overall victory in the Dauphiné. He won the long time trial and then finished second to Tour champion Alberto Contador at Alpe d’Huez. The Spaniard attacked the Slovenian multiple times during the ascent but couldn’t shake him off.
Armstrong’s morale was boosted at the weekend when he finished as runner-up to Frank Schleck in the Tour de Suisse. He won the race in 2001. He will hope the podium finish is a good omen prior to the start of the Tour on Saturday week in Rotterdam.
“I have to be pleased,” he said after the Tour de Suisse. “If you think about it, I was third in Luxembourg, second here…I’ll do the math in the next race.”
Contador is likely to be his biggest challenger, and has taken a number of strong wins this year. The Schleck brothers are also tipped as very serious rivals, with a number of others such as Bradley Wiggins, Robert Gesink, Cadel Evans and Christian Vandevelde also hoping to be in the mix.
RadioShack team lineup for 2010 Tour de France: Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Chris Horner, Janez Brajkovic, Sergio Paulinho, Yaroslav Popovych, Gregory Rast and Dmitriy Muravyev