Compiled from VN. Real team previews next week. Riis's boys set to defend (well, not with the defending champ, but you get the idea):
Andy Schleck, Fränk Schleck, Fabian Cancellara, Stuart O’Grady, Jens Voigt, Nicki Sørensen, Chris Anker Sørensen, Gustav Larsson, Kurt-Asle Arvesen.
Very veteran heavy squad. Among the missing is Matti Breschel... no room for sprinters, even if they can climb a little. Oh well. Larsson makes the cut (despite some suggestions here that he might not); O'Grady remains indispensible; Chris Anker Sørensen makes his debut.
Meanwhile, over at Rabo...
Denis Menchov, Grischa Niermann, Juan Antonio Flecha, Oscar Freire, Juan Manuel Garate, Joost Posthuma, Stef Clement, Laurens Ten Dam, Robert Gesink.
This has to be their climbingest squad in forever. Garate and Ten Dam are solid uphill domestiques, and Gesink is Plan B, if Menchov shows any tiredness from Italy. Freire... speaking of Plan B, if they can't grab yellow, they've given Freire some help in his pursuit of points. Not sure I'd favor any of these plans working out though. Maybe they can launch Ten Dam after the KOM, if the sight of "Rabobank" on the maillot pois doesn't conjure up too many bad memories.
Now the Boys of Moo:
Gerald Ciolek, Markus Fothen, Johannes Frohlinger, Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees, Niki Terpstra, Peter Velits, Fabian Wegmann, Peter Wrolich.
What's the average age, about 24? Might as well get these kids some experience now. As for Cofidis:
Stephane Auge, Samuel Dumoulin, Leonardo Duque, Bingen Fernandez, Christophe Kern, Sebastien Minard, Amael Moinard, David Moncoutie, Remi Pauriol.
Lotta stage hunters, including sprinter Duque. Meanwhile Astana have named six guys with three more to come. Somehow I'm not gripped by the suspense.
Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong, Andreas Klöden, Levi Leipheimer, Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia.
Do they even need three more?