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June 21, 2006
Tour starters: English-speaking countries roundup
Since most of my readership comes from English speaking countries, I thought I would post a quick roundup of which (and how many) citizens of the former colonies are scheduled to ride in this year's Tour.
- George Hincapie, Discovery
- Chris Horner, Davitamon-Lotto
- Bobby Julich, CSC
- Floyd Landis, Phonak
- Levi Leipheimer, Gerolsteiner
- Fred Rodriguez, Davitamon-Lotto
- Christian Vande Velde, CSC
- Dave Zabriskie, CSC
- Reserve: AmerItalian Guido Trenti
United States (8 riders, 1 reserve)
Last year, all of these plus Lance Armstrong and Trenti, but minus Vande Velde.
- Allan Davis, Astaná-Würth
- Cadel Evans, Davitamon-Lotto
- Simon Gerrans, AG2R
- Robbie McEwen, Davitamon-Lotto
- Stuart O'Grady, CSC
- Michael Rogers, T-Mobile
Australia (6 riders):
Last year, Australia had all these, plus Baden Cooke, Brad McGee, Luke Roberts, and Matthew White.
- David Millar, Saunier Duval-Prodir
- Bradley Wiggins, Cofidis
Great Britain (2 riders):
Great Britain was shut out last year.
- Robbie Hunter, Phonak
South Africa (1 rider):
As last year.
- Julian Dean, Credit Agricole
New Zealand (1 rider):
None last year, although Dean rode in 2004.
- Michael Barry, Discovery Channel
Canada (1 alternate):
Plus permission to root for David Canada. The last Canadian in the Tour was Gord Fraser in 1997, but Ryder Hesjedal or Barry should break that streak soon.
Posted by Frank Steele on June 21, 2006 in Baden Cooke, Bradley McGee, Bradley Wiggins, Cadel Evans, Chris Horner, Dave Zabriskie, David Millar, Floyd Landis, Fred Rodriguez, George Hincapie, Julian Dean, Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Michael Rogers, Robbie McEwen, Stuart O'Grady, Tour de France 2006 | Permalink
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Comments
Robbie McEwen has a UK passport as well has has australian one; apparently it makes it a lot easier to be a pro cyclist in the European Union, as it eliminates all the visa paperworl.
Posted by: Steve Loughran at Jun 21, 2006 3:26:17 PM
The Brits can also root for Magnus Backstedt, who happens to live near me in Wales and has a Welsh wife.
Posted by: Andrew at Jun 21, 2006 5:38:08 PM
I actually meant to mention that Backstedt's better half (given Maggie's size, maybe better third) is Welsh; hope I get to write about him for more than how badly he's suffering in the mountains this year...
Posted by: TdFblog's Frank at Jun 21, 2006 11:26:14 PM
"The last Canadian in the Tour was Gord Fraser in 1997"
Man, that's a long time, eh? (I'm Canadian so I can legitimately use that expression). I"m sure that losing streak will be broken by Hesjedal or Barry as you mentioned next year. The organizers should have a minimum one Canadian rule because any party is incomplete without at least one Crazy Canuck.
Posted by: steephill at Jun 22, 2006 3:38:21 AM
I think that it's such a shame that Armstrong is not riding this year. I had an operation to make my lungs work better last year and when I said to the surgeon that I can go and give a Lance a fright in the tour next year he looked at me a bit sceptically and said "Hm but don't forget that might bring on heart problems!".
That could been one extra American and one extra unheard of Brit!!!
Posted by: angus at Jul 2, 2006 12:23:30 PM
