Tour of Britain 2008

Team CSC/Saxo Bank, the number one ranked team in the world over the past three seasons, will once again return to The Tour of Britain in September.

Headlining the provisional line-up are a pair of Olympic and World Champions in Stuart O’Grady and Bradley McGee and a former Tour of Britain stage winner in Matthew Goss.

O’Grady, who is currently riding the Tour de France, is one of the most successful Australian cyclists ever, and no stranger to British roads having won the PruTour in 1998 and clinched Gold in the Road Race at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

Fellow Australian McGee, who has won stages at both the Tour de France and Giro d’Italia and worn the leaders jersey in both races, will be riding The Tour just two weeks after having competed in the Beijing Olympics, where he will have gone head to head with the successful British track cycling team.

Backing up O’Grady and McGee will be a third Australian, Goss. The 21 year old wore The Tour of Britain’s yellow jersey for a day in 2006, though had to abandon the race through injury. A year later and now riding for Team CSC, Goss took victory at the end of Stage 3 into Wolverhampton.

Currently a trio of young Danes – Anders Lund, Andre Steensen and Kasper Klostergaard – are scheduled to complete the Team CSC – Saxo Bank roster for the race, which the squad have ridden every year since it’s re-birth in 2004.

The team’s most successful year came in 2006 when they won the race with Martin Pedersen (who also won the first stage), the E.ON King of the Mountains jersey with Andy Schleck, as well as the overall team classification.

European investment bank Saxo Bank recently joined Team CSC as co-sponsor until the end of the 2008 season, when they will then take over the title sponsorship of the squad becoming Team Saxo Bank.

Commenting on the announcement, Tour of Britain spokesman Paul Rowlands said:

“We are very pleased to welcome Team CSC – Saxo Bank back to The Tour of Britain. The race is now five year’s old, and Team CSC – Saxo Bank have supported us right from the start, sending a strong and competitive squad every year to the race, and I’m sure 2008 will be no different.

Stuart O’Grady and Bradley McGee are both excellent, world-class bike riders, while everyone at The Tour of Britain knows what a great cyclist Matthew Goss is, and felt for him when he had to drop out of the 2006 race while wearing the yellow jersey.”