Teams Talk 1

The weekend of March 1/2 will see the Het Volk, Kuurne Brussels Kuurne, GP Lugano and the Beerbeck Classic being held. Teams have been busy releasing news.

Milram Update 1
Milram sends its Classics specialist to Omloop Het Volk and Kuurne Brussels Kuurne as Ralf Grabsch and Markus Eichler led the team in Flanders this weekend

The German ProTour team Milram is opening the Spring season in Belgium with two traditional half-classics in Flanders. MILRAM's Classics specialists will tackle the 63. Omloop Het Volk (UCI 1.HC/199 km) on Saturday, and the next day, the NORDMILCH pros will be take the start of the 61st Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne (UCI 1.1/193 km).

The team will be led by Milram all rounder Ralf Grabsch. The rider from Cologne, Germany, has big plans for the upcoming Spring Classics: "The coming weeking is the grand opening of the Classics season,“ the 34 year-old said. "Both races will establish where everyone stands at the moment. Everyone will see how he stands in looking forward to the highlights of the Ronde van Vlaanderen or Paris-Roubaix. I always enjoy riding the opening Belgian races and will test my form in both races, look for my chance and see what I can do in the finale.“ He has other Spring Classics on his mind. After his spectacular solo escape in the "Hell of the North“, Paris-Roubaix, in 2007, he is looking to do even better this year.

The team will also be looking to Markus Eichler in Flanders. Last year the rider from Mönchengladbach was riding for Team Unibet.com and gathered important experience in the Spring classics, finishing fifth in the Belgian half-classic Nokere Koerse and eighth in the Driedaagse van De Panne.

In addition to Grabsch and Eichler, the Milram veteran's Enrico Poitschke of Gera, Martin Muller of Berlin and the Dutch rider Niki Terpstra will start in the two half-classics. Newcomers Dominick Roels, Artur Gajek, (both from Cologne), and the Slovakian Martin Velits will get their first experience with the power-sapping cobblestone passages and the nasty climbs, the so-called Flemish "Hellinge“. The Directeur Sportif is Jochen Hahn, of Berlin.

Team Milram's line-up: Ralf Grabsch (GER / Hürth), Markus Eichler (GER / Mönchengladbach), Enrico Poitschke (GER / Gera), Martin Müller (GER / Forst), Dominik Roels (GER / Köln), Artur Gajek (GER / Bergisch Gladbach), Niki Terpstra (NED), Martin Velits (SVK). Directeur Sportif: Jochen Hahn (GER / Berlin)

Milram Update 2
U23 World Champion Peter Velits leads Team Milram in GP Lugano

While eight of their team colleagues are riding the Belgian spring semi-classics, another Team Milram squad will be in Tessin, Switzerland, this coming Sunday, March 2. U23 World Champion Peter Velits will lead an 8-man team in the 25th Grand Prix Lugano (UCI 1.1). He will be joined by his Slovakian countryman Mateij Jurco, German Sebastian Schwager, Ukrainian Andrey Grivko, and the three Italians, Elia Rigotto, Luca Barla and Sergio Ghisalberti.

"I am starting for the first time in my career in Lugano and look forward to this challenging race right through the middle of the city,“ said Peter Velits, U23 World Champion who rides for Milram...Of course we have to wait and see how it goes, but from looking at the profile, I would say this is a good race for me.“

The GP Lugano consists of five laps of a 35,7 km long course. The finish line comes after 178,5 km in the center of the city on the Lago di Lugano.

Milram's line-up: Andrey Grivko (UKR), Brett Lancaster (AUS), Elia Rigotto (ITA), Luca Barla (ITA), Matej Jurco (SVK), Peter Velits (SVK), Sebastian Schwager (GER / Ansbach), Sergio Ghisalberti (ITA).

Quickstep Update
Riders for Omloop Het Volk will be Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Wilfried Cretskens, Steven De Jongh, Stijn Devolder, Kevin Hulsmans, Gert Steegmans, Wouter Weylandt. D.S.: Wilfried Peeters, Dirk Demol.

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne features riders; Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Steven De Jongh, Stijn Devolder, Gert Steegmans, Matteo Tosatto, Jurgen Van de Walle, Marteen Wynants. D.S.: Wilfried Peeters, Dirk Demol.

GP Lugano riders are Carlos Barredo, Alexander Efimkin, Mauro Facci, Juan Manuel Garate, Dmytro Grabovskyy, Leonardo Scarselli, Hubert Schwab, Giovanni Visconti and D.S.: Davide Bramati.

Out of action are: Sebastien Rosseler is out fo action with a bad knee; “This pain started in winter during a training session – Rosseler said – it is a pain that I feel right inside my knee. In accordance with the team’s medical staff, for the past 3 weeks I’ve been alternating long bike rides in order to keep my leg muscle tone in shape with physiotherapy and rehabilitation sessions”

Kevin Van Impe has problems with his right knee and pulled-out of last weeks Volta ao Algarve due to increased pain at the level of his tendon. Kevin is at present having physiotherapy and pass some checks trying to discover the cause of this pain.

Thankfully Matteo Carrara is recovering from the flu and attacks of dysentery that plagued him after his return from Portugal. “It was difficult due to the awful weather – Carrara said – I had a high temperature at the beginning of the week but I’m getting better. I’ve managed to train the last two days. It seems like the worst is already over”. Carrara will be back racing at the Paris-Nice.

Alessandro Proni is having problems with the Achilles tendon of his left leg. The Italian is at present having physiotherapy sessions after this problem with his Achilles tendon worsened during the final stage of the Volta ao Algarve.

After his return from the Algarve, Davide Viganò caught the Chickenpox. Thankfully though it looks like he will be able to re-start training next week.

Barlow World Update
Gasparotto targets GP Lugano sprint

Team Barloworld will ride the GP Lugano on Sunday March 2 with an aggressive race strategy After riding the Volta ao Algarve, Claudio Corti's riders will be in Switzerland for the GP Lugano, where the team's Pedro Arreitunandia finished second last year.

The Team Barloworld squad for the Swiss race will be directed by Valerio Tebaldi and will be made up of many of the riders who took part in the Trofeo Laigueglia, including Enrico Gasaparotto, who just missed out on victory, finishing fourth after all the team performed well. Baden Cooke will also be in the race as he looks for his first important win of the season.

The team will also include John Lee Augustyn, Francesco Bellotti, Patrick Calcagni, Gianpaolo Cheula, Marco Corti and Carlo Scognamiglio.
While the sprinters are chasing success in Switzerland, the climbers of Team Barloworld are getting ready to travel to South Africa for the MTN Giro del Capo that will be held between March 4-8. The stage race is a major objective for the Team because it is held on the home roads of main sponsor Barloworld.

Felix Cardenas, Christopher Froome, Robert Hunter, Daryl Impey, Christian Pfannberger and Hugo Sabido will wear the red Team Barloworld colors in South Africa for the five days and 613 km of racing between Wellington and Cape Town. Team Barloworld will be aiming to repeat the success of 2007 when the team won three stages, the overall classification and several other placings.

BMC Update
The ASO announced that the BMC Racing Team has received an official invitation to compete in the prominent Critérium International. Read more under www.bmcracingteam.com

Slipstream Sports Update
For the first time ever, fans get instant text/SMS updates, live from the team, car as races unfold

Fans of Team Slipstream-Chipotle presented by H30 can now receive live updates on the team on Twitter, a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send updates to other users who have signed up to receive them. For the first time ever, fans will be able to receive instant Text/SMS updates as races unfold.

“We love our fans, and we are excited that for the first time we can connect with them from anywhere in the world in real time,” said Doug Ellis, Chairman, Slipstream Sports. “This is an exciting race season, and we are happy to give our fans such great access to the team.”

To subscribe to receive the latest updates - Go to TeamSlipstream on Twitter.

Liquigas Update
Het Volk, Kuurne and GP Lugano in the Liquigas weekend

The Omloop Het Volk, scheduled on next Saturday 1 March, will be the hors d’oeuvres of North Classics. A lot of Bergs, with an incline from 4 to 20 per cent, and the sections in pavè will constitute a very good test bed for the Liquigas Team, who will take part in the race without Filippo Pozzato (2007 race winner).

At the start there will be Enrico Franzoi, the rider who has in the Paris-Roubaix one of his seasonal objectives. The day after, the Liquigas team will participate in the Kuurne Brussels Kuurne. The squad, directed by Mario Scirea, will also feature Alberto Curtolo, Mauro Da Dalto, Murilo Fischer, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Roberto Petito, Manuel Quinziato and Frederik Willems.

On Sunday 2 March, eight green-blue riders will play their cards looking for the success in the GP of Lugano. They are Michael Albasini, Leonardo Bertagnolli, Kjell CarlstrÖm, Andrea Noè, Franco Pellizotti, Ivan Santaromita, Alessandro Vanotti and Charles Wegelius. Team manager Dario Mariuzzo.

Lampre Update
On Sunday team Lampre will run in Suisse taking part in GP of Lugano. Sport director Fabrizio Bontempi will guide a young team made up of Bandiera, Bossoni, Bindi, Gavazzi, Mori, Murro, Spilak and Santambrogio.The staff there will be doctor Guardascione, mechanics Bortoluzzo and Valli and massuers Bertolone, Borgognoni and Rubino.

"Our team in Lugano will be very young and so we'll run in a lively way - Fabrizio Bontempi underlined - Our young riders could realize good performances, guided by athletes with experience as Bossoni and Mori. Another interesting element will be the debut of the Slovene Simon Spilak, a youngster (born in 1986) with great qualities".

Astana Update
Omloop Het Volk, Team - Riders: Koen de Kort, Sergei Ivanov, Benoit Joachim, Aaron Kemps, Dmitriy Muravjev, Gregory Rast, Michael Schär, Tomas Vaitkus. D.S.: Sean Yates

Kuurne Brussels Kuurne - Riders: Koen de Kort, Sergei Ivanov, Benoît Joachim, Aaron Kemps, Dmitry Muravjev, Gregory Rast, Michael Schär, Tomas Vaitkus. D.S.: Sean Yates

Vuelta a Murcia (Esp), March 3 - Riders: Jani Brajkovic, Antonio Colom, Alberto Contador, Maxim Iglinskiy, Daniel Navarro, Benjamin Noval, Sergio Paulinho, José Luis Rubiera. D.S.: Alain Gallopin

Silence Lotto Update
Bad news for the team - and especially for Greg Van Avermaet.

Greg, who was obliged to leave Ruta del Sol before the end, is presently suffering from an inflammation of the internal ear. He must rest for a few days, and will -start training - on fixed rollers - against the end of the week.

He will not take part to the great Belgian Season's Opening Weekens but, if all goes well, he will soon be able to train on the road and will be fit to start at Paris-Nice (9 - 16 March).