Katusha, Rabobank, Joker Bianchi and ISD-Neri Ready for The 2009 Tour of Britain

02.09.2009

Eight Tour de France teams competing for overall glory on British soil

With eleven days to go before the start of The Tour of Britain, SweetSpot Group Ltd, organiser’s of the UK’s biggest free to attend sporting event, have today announced the names of the remaining four teams to make up the total line up for this year’s event.

All four squads make their Tour of Britain debuts, with Rabobank bringing former Tour of Britain winner Mauricio Ardila to the race, while Katusha boast former King of the Mountains Ben Swift and stage winner Filippo Pozzato among their provisional line-up.

Both Joker Bianchi and ISD – Neri bring strong rosters to The Tour, with both teams more than capable of winning stages or featuring high in the overall classification in their first appearance in the race.

The final four teams and their riders are:

ISD-Neri

ToB Participations: First participation

A new team for 2009, ISD are a Italo-Ukranian affair, with a management team that includes former professional Luca Scinto and the legendary and charismatic Mario Cipollini, who needs no introduction to cycling fans.

Based in Tuscany, ISD have both amateur and Continental level teams, with the senior squad aiming to grow gradually over the next three years to become one of the world’s top ten teams.

The team riding The Tour of Britain are:

• Bartozs Huzarsky

• Simon Clarke

• Ruslan Pidgornyy

• Oleksandr Kvachuk

• Denys Kostyuk

• Vitaliy Kondrut

Joker Bianchi

ToB Participations: First participation

Norway’s Joker Bianchi make their Tour of Britain debut, but one of their former riders, Edvald Boasson Hagen, has already had an indelible impact on the race, winning three stages last year.

Alexander Kristoff, the team’s sprinter, beat Thor Hushovd in a sprint to be champion of Norway on the road last year, and has had several second and third places in sprints this year, so a big win can only be just around the corner for the young Norwegian.

Stian Remme is the best climber on the team, winning a stage of the Tour of the Pyrenees in 2008 and doing well in several other French races this season.

The team also put in a good performance at the Tour Alsace in July, with Frederik Wilmann winning a stage; to go with his top ten finish in last year’s Tour de l’Avenir, a mini-Tour de France for young riders.

The team riding The Tour of Britain are:

• Alexander Kristoff

• Frederik Willmann

• Stian Remme

• Sondre Sortveit

• Lars Petter Nordhaug

• Vegard Stake Laengen

Rabobank

ToB Participations: First participation

Rabobank can boast that they have a former Tour of Britain winner in Mauricio Ardila. The Colombian won the first Tour back in 2004.

This will be the first appearance of the ProTour Rabobank team in the race, although in 2007 their development Continental level squad did take part. One of the world’s biggest teams, the squad can trace their history right back until 1984 under a variety of sponsors, such as Buckler and Wordperfect. They’ve ridden every Tour de France since ’84, winning twenty-two stages of the race since they became Rabobank in 1996.

The team riding The Tour of Britain are:

• Mauricio Ardila

• Graeme Brown

• Stef Clement

• Laurens Ten Dams

• Grischa Niermann

• Joost Posthuma

Team Katusha

ToB Participations: First participation

The ‘Russian Global Cycling Project’ arrives at The Tour of Britain two years on from their appearance as the Tinkoff Credit Systems team that formed the foundations of Katusha. On that appearance they won two stages, and with a bigger budget and top line stars, the team will be a threat for further stage wins and possibly the overall Yellow Jersey.

Filippo Pozzato (Sheffield ’06) has the experience of winning a stage in The Tour of Britain, while Britain’s Ben Swift won the King of the Mountains jersey in 2007. The youngster from Sheffield also has a fast growing reputation as an excellent sprinter, which saw him recording several top ten stage finishes at the Giro d’Italia this year.

The team also have a strong sprinter in the form of Danilo Napolitano, while Vladimir Karpets is among some of the best riders to have been produced by Russia in recent seasons. Karpets is a regular top twenty finisher in Grand Tours, while Evgeni Petrov has also recorded a top ten finish in the Giro d’Italia.

The team riding The Tour of Britain are:

• Ben Swift

• Vladimir Karpets

• Danilo Napolitano

• Filippo Pozzato

• Evgueni Petrov

The full list of teams and riders will be made available within the next day on The Tour of Britain website