Tour of Britain 2008 - Teams

The teams assembled are an eclectic mix of UK prime, European top pro and hungry (For attention) small teams from across the globe. Three of Britain's Olympic gold medallists ride, as do Classic, Paris Roubaix, Tour de France stage winners and a Giro d'Italia champion. It's a heady mix of established talent and those looking to make an impression. Sadly Mark Cavendish is a no show.

Jersey	Riders
Agritubel	1 Romain Feillu, FRA 2 Emilian Berges, FRA 3 Steven Caethoven, BEL	4 Cedric Coutouly, FRA 5 Geoffroy Lequatre, FRA 6 Nicolas Vogondy, FRA
	Note - 2007 TOB winner and 2008 Tour de France yellow jersey wearer Romain Feillu is back to defend his title.
Team Columbia	11 Kim Kirchen, LUX 12 Boasson Edvald NOR 13 Roger Hammond, GBR	14 Greg Henderson, NZL 15 Vicente Reynes, ESP 16 Bradley Wiggins, GBR
	Note - Kim Kirchen held both the yellow and green jerseys at the 2008 Tour and he, with top Brit's Roger Hammond and multi Olympic medal winner Bradley Wiggins, offer a strong line up
Great Britain	21 Rob Hayles, GBR 22 Jonathan McEvoy, GBR 23 Ian Stannard, GBR	24 Tom Southam, GBR 25 Ben Swift, GBR 26 Andrew Tennant, GBR
	Note - The team is packed with great talent and is led by an on form Rob Hayles. Tom Southam, Ian Stannard and Ben Swift are stars in the making.
Palmeiras Resort – Tavira	31 Martin Garrido, ARG 32 David Blanco, ESP 33 Juan Gomis, ESP	34 Alejandro Marque, ESP 35 Paul Sneeboer, NED 36 Tomas Swift-Metcalfe, GBR
	Note - Like many small unknown teams, this squad will surprise the unwary and the big teams will keep an eye on them just in case one of their moves leads to something big.
Pinarello RT – Candi TV	41 Russell Downing, GBR 42 Malcolm Elliott, GBR 43 Fredrik Johansson, SWE	44 Tom Murray, GBR 45 Andrew Roche, IRL 46 Peter Williams, GBR
	Note - Russell Downing had a great Tour of Ireland and only just missed winning it. 47 year old Malcolm Elliott on his day is pure class.
Rapha Condor Recycling	51 Chris Newton, GBR 52 Dale Appleby, GBR 53 Dean Downing, GBR	54 Rhys Lloyd, GBR 55 Kristian House, GBR 56 Rob Partridge, GBR
	Note - Olympic bronze holder Chris Newton leads a team depleted by injury to Ben Greenwood. Dean Downing (UK crit champ)and Kristian House are pure racers and they will feature in the action.
Barloworld	61 Steve Cummings, GBR 62 Geraint Thomas, GBR 63 Baden Cooke, AUS	64 Robbie Hunter, RSA 65 Mauricio Soler, COL 66 Paolo Longo Borghini, ITA
	Note - Steve Cummings won an Italian classic race recently and is on form. Olympic gold medallist Geraint Thomas can win from a long break and the team has two very, very good sprinters in Baden Cooke and Robbie Hunter. Look out for Mauricio Soler the 2007 Tour King of the Mountains Champion, who returns after injury. A team that looks likely to score big time!
Rock Racing	71 Tyler Hamilton, USA 72 Rahsaan Bahati, USA 73 Santiago Botero, COL	74 Victor Pena, COL 75 Fred Rodriguez, USA 76 Oscar Sevilla, ESP
	Note - The 'bad boys' of USA racing present a great show and they include past Olympic TT champion, tour stage winner and reigning USA champion, Tyler Hamilton. Hamilton has been invloved in years of legal moves surrounding his bans for doping. The team to liven up the action, especially in town centre finishes..
Plowman Craven	81 Evan Oliphant, GBR 82 Tom Barras, GBR 83 Tony Gibb, GBR	84 Simon Gaywood, GBR 85 James Millard, GBR 86 Simon Richardson, GBR
	Note - The boys in pink contain a number of city centre demons, with Tony Gibb and James Millard (Ex-UK Crit champ) able to ambush anyone in mass gallops through town. (soory, we make them said like 'hoodies'.
Team Garmin – Chipotle	91 David Millar, GBR 92 Magnus Backstedt, SWE 93 Julian Dean, NZL	94 Dan Martin, IRL 95 Martijn Maaskant, NED 96 Trent Lowe, AUS
	Note - Julian Dean is a fast finisher and placed second overall on the recent Tour of Ireland. David Millar and Magnus Backstedt both have the class to win stages alone or to motivate a break.
Topsport Vlaanderen	101 Kristof Goddaert, BEL 102 Nikolas Maes, BEL 103 Serge Pauwels, BEL	104 Kristof Vandewalle, BEL 105 Pieter Vanspeybrouck, BEL 106 Frederik Veuchelen, BEL
	Note - Topsport Vlaanderen are a tough Belgian team who will attack on mass and tear the race apart. They have annoyed many of the top teams this year by their adventurous antics. These boys just don't know their place - great!
Team CSC – Saxo Bank	111 Stuart O'Grady, AUS 112 Matthew Goss, AUS 113 Jonathan Bellis, GBR	114 Anders Lund, DEN 115 Bradley McGee, AUS 116 Andre Steensen, DEN
	Note - Paris Roubaix winner Stuart O'Grady is a possible winner of the TOB. He can hold off a baying chasing pack and thus is well equipped to go for a lone win. He is joined by sprinter Bradley McGhee and Jonathan Bellis, who is a Beijing Olympian
An Post Sean Kelly	121 Daniel Lloyd, GBR 122 Mark Cassidy, IRL 123 Benny De Schrooder, BEL	124 Daniel Fleeman, GBR 125 Kenny Lisabeth, BEL 126 Paidi O'Brien, IRL
	Note - Dan Lloyd and Dan Fleeman are two Brit's in the race who have raced well and have won on the tough continental race scene. Hopefully will feature high on the GC.
MTN Energade	131 David George, RSA 132 Kevin Evans, RSA 133 Neil McDonald, RSA	134 Jay Thomson, RSA 135 Juan Van Heerden, RSA 136 Waylon Woolcock, RSA
	Note - David George featured strongly at the Tour of Ireland and was second in the mountains competition.
LPR Brakes – Ballan	141 Alessandro Petacchi, ITA 142 Danilo Di Luca, ITA 143 Claudio Cucinotta, ITA	144 Gabriele Bosisio, ITA 145 Giairo Ermeti, ITA 146 Alessandro Spezialetti, ITA
	Note - Both Alessandro Petacchi and Danilo Di Luca have suffered problems with drug issues. Petacchi, the once king of the sprints and the best in the world, served a short ban this year and left Milram for the smaller Italian LPR team. Di Luca was the 2007 Giro d'Italia and Liege Bastogne Liege winner, but was out of cycling for a while with his own doping issues. If they are up for this race, they will win.
SouthAustralia.com – AIS	151 Simon Clarke, AUS 152 Zakkari Dempster, AUS 153 Cameron Meyer, AUS	154 Travis Meyer, AUS 155 Wesley Sulzberger, AUS 156 Johnnie Walker, AUS
	Note - The Australian sporting institutes race squad is another tough team able to raise their game and tear a stage apart. Simon Clarke is a potential stage winner.