RadioShack-Nissan has changed its mind. After last week's kerfluffle over Chris Horner's exclusion from the team's long list for the Tour de France, the team has announced its final team for the French grand tour. And looky there. Chris Horner is one of the nine riders who will take the start in Liège. The team had excluded him from the long list for the Tour with the explanation that Horner had a back injury. The American claimed that he is healthy and had been training consistently hard since the Amgen Tour of California. It was all, apparently, a big misunderstanding.
The team will include: Fabian Cancellara, Tony Gallopin, Chris Horner, Andreas Klöden, Maxime Monfort, Yaroslav Popovych, Fränk Schleck, Jens Voigt, and Haimar Zubeldia. The press release also confirms that Alain Gallopin and Dirk Demol will direct the team. Johan Bruyneel is not mentioned in the press release, an omission that may or may not mean Something Important.
The team announcement also follows last week's news that Andy Schleck would not ride the Tour de France as planned due to a fractured pelvis. Schleck, who won the 2010 Tour de France after Alberto Contador's conviction for a doping offense, crashed heavily during the long time trial at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Though he finished the stage and in fact, also finished the next day's stage, Schleck eventually abandoned the Dauphiné and further tests showed the true nature of his injuries. Though this year's Tour course did him no favors, Schleck was among the favorites for a podium placing in Paris.