Cycling World

Illes Balears big hope for this season will be new signing, Alejandro Valverde. In year 2004 he won many races for his old team Kelme, one-day races and was also up they’re in La Vuelta. Mancebo, Guitierrez and Karpets are also strong riders, But the young Valverde will be the leader of the... 

Lampre-Caffita’s young rider Damiano Cunego last year beat his team leader, Gilberto Simoni in the Giro d’Italia and won the Tour of Lombardy, he is now the top man, He is only 23 years old so has a long future ahead of him and is a big favourite with the fans. Simoni wants to win the Tours Italy... 

A young team of French and Australians, no hope for the overall place in any of the Major Tours, but could take the Green points jersey with sprinters McGee, Casar or Cooke. Guesdon could pull off a Classic win, like he did in Paris-Roubaix a few years ago, but unlikely! These young riders will mature... 

Alessandro Petacchi is the fastest man in the peloton at the moment and his Fassa Bortolo team are there to lead him out more victories this season. The rest of the team are strong, but they don’t have a tour-winning contender. The other members of the team will win some races, but the main man is... 

Domina Vacanze is not one of the big teams in the Pro-Tour. Gonchar is/or was one of the best time trialists around, but now is past his best. The others, Celestino and Belli may do something, but not in any big races. Team sprinter, Ivan Quaranta used to be very fast, but for the last few years he... 

Team CSC is becoming probably, the most important team to follow over the next years. It is managed by Bjarne Riis, who was once winner of theTour of France in 1996. His experience has been fundamental to achieve a strong as well as successful team inside the world ‘peloton’. Team CSC... 

Credit Agricole achieves a lot with little investment, but saying that, 2005 will be tough for them in the Pro-Tour and may stretch there budget. Hushovd and Kirsipuu will win some sprints and Christophe Moreau will be trying to do something in the Tour de France, a high place is possible, but not much... 

The Cofidis team has been around since 1997 and has been very successful with riders like Frank Vandenbroucke and David Millar, but all went wrong with drug accusations and a withdrawal from racing last year, things should be better now as there has been a clearing out of the old staff and riders. Stuart... 

It could be said that Bouygues Telecom are only in the Pro-Tour to make up the numbers. There best rider is only 35th in the UCI rankings, Jerome Pineau gained this place with out any big wins. Other stars are, ex-World champ, Laurent Brochard, who must be at the end of his career along with other “old... 

Davitamon-Lotto is probably the strongest Classics team, with winners as strong as Peter Van Petergem, Nico Mattan, Leon Van Bon and Axel Merckx. The team also has three of the fastest sprinters around, Robbie McEwan, Tom Steels and Fred Rodriguez. Van Petergem will be out to win Paris-Roubaix or his...