Lance Armstrong returns to Australia for the Tour Down Under next week in better shape than in last year's comeback season and with his own cycling team — Team Radio Shack. (See Tour Down Under race and TV schedule.)
Still, he told the Sydney Morning Herald that he doesn't expect to be in contention to win the bike race that rolls out Jan. 17-24. Team Shack instead will be looking to take stage wins at TDU with sprinter Gert Steegmans of Belgium.
Which is just as well, because the rosters for this year's race reveals a host of cyclists that can take the overall honors.
First there's 29-year-old Aussie Allan Davis, right, who wore the QuickStep jersey last year when he won three stages on his way to the Tour Down Under championship. He's returning this year as a member of the decimated Astana team, who lost many riders to Radio Shack. Oscar Pereiro also is appearing with the Astana team.
Weird fact: Four US-based cycling teams are competing in Adelaide but just three US cyclists.
Radio Shack, BMC, HTC-Columbia and Garmin Transitions are the US teams, and Armstrong and Jason McCartney on Radio Shack and George Hincapie on BMC (not Columbia, he moved) are the only US riders.
In addition to Hincapie on BMC Racing, there's world champion and native Australian Cadel Evans, left. Team HTC-Columbia features Andre Greipel of Germany and Michael Rogers of Australia.
Garmin Transitions is led by Aussie Jack Bobridge and also features New Zealander Julian Dean.
Browsing the rosters, some other stand-outs include Aussies Robbie McEwen for Team Katusha and Stuart O'Grady and Baden Cooke for Team Saxo Bank. Saxo also is bringing Germany's Jens Voigt.
Here's the roster based on the latest information posted at the Tour Down Under website:
ASTANA (KAZ)
1. DAVIS Allan AUS
2. PEREIRO Oscar ESP
3. DMITRIYEV Valeriy KAZ
4. GRIVKO Andriy UKR
5. JUFRE POU Josep ESP
6. HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ Jess ESP
7. STANGELJ Gorazd SLO
Team Manager: BONTEMPI Guido ITA
TEAM RADIOSHACK (USA)
11. ARMSTRONG Lance USA
12. IMPEY Daryl RSA
13. MCCARTNEY Jason USA
14. POPOVYCH Yaroslav UKR
15. ROSSELER Sebastien BEL
16. VAITKUS Tomas LTU
17. STEEGMANS Gert BEL
Team Manager: AZEVEDO Jose POR
BMC RACING TEAM (USA)
21. EVANS Cadel AUS
22. HINCAPIE George USA
23. KROON Karsten NED
24. WYSS Danilo SUI
25. KOHLER Martin SUI
26. SANTAMBROGIO Mauro ITA
27. FREI Thomas SUI
Team Manager: LELANGUE John BEL
OMEGA PHARMA LOTTO (BEL)
31. DELAGE Mickal FRA
32. KAISEN Olivier BEL
33. LJUNGBLAD Jonas SWE
34. LLOYD Matthew AUS
35. ROELANDTS Jurgen BEL
36. LOWIK Gerben NED
37. VAN GOOLEN Jurgen BEL
Team Manager: REDANT Hendrik BEL
TEAM HTC – COLUMBIA (USA)41. GREIPEL Andre GER
42. ROGERS Michael AUS
43. GRABSCH Bert GER
44. EISEL Bernhard AUT
45. SIEBERG Marcel GER
46. GOSS Matthew AUS
47. ROULSTON Hayden NZL
Team Manager: PEIPER Allan AUS
TEAM SKY (GBR)(GBR)
51. SUTTON Christopher AUS
52. VIGANO Davide ITA
53. SWIFT Ben GBR
54. HAYMAN Mathew AUS
55. DOWNING Russell GBR
56. FROOME Christopher GBR
57. HENDERSON Greg NZL
Team Manager: YATES Sean GBR
Ag2r La Mondiale (FRA)
61. ELMIGER Martin SUI
62. DESSEL Cyril FRA
63. KADRI Blel FRA
64. KRIVTSOV Yuriy UKR
65. MANDRI Ren EST
66. RAVARD Anthony FRA
67. TURPIN Ludovic FRA
Team Manager: BIONDI Laurent FRA
TEAM KATUSHA (RUS)
71. McEWEN Robbie AUS
72. PLIUSCHIN Alexander MDA
73. VORGANOV Eduard RUS
74. RIPOLL HORRACH Juan ESP
75. GALIMZYANOV Denis RUS
76. VANDENBERGH Stijn BEL
77. KLIMOV Sergey RUS
Team Manager: KONYCHEV Dmitri RUS
TEAM SAXO BANK (DEN)
81. OGRADY Stuart AUS
82. VOIGT Jens GER
83. KLOSTERGAARD Kasper DEN
84. COOKE Baden AUS
85. HOJ Frank DEN
86. HAEDO Juan Jose ARG
87. LUND Anders DEN
Team Manager: McGEE Bradley AUS
MILRAM (GER)
91. FOESTER Robert GER
92. FOTHEN Markus GER
93. ROELS Dominik GER
94. ROHREGGER Thomas GER
95. STROETINGA Wim NED
96. ROBERTS Luke AUS
97. SCHRODER Bjorn GER
Team Manager: ALGERI Vittorio ITA
FRANCAISE DES JEUX (FRA)
101. CHEREL Mikael FRA
102. PINOT Thibaut FRA
103. HUTAROVICH Yauheni BLR
104. ROUX Anthony FRA
105. SULZBERGER Wesley AUS
106. CAZAUX Pierre FRA
107. VICHOT Arthur FRA
Team Manager: BRICAUD Thierry FRA
CAISSE D'EPARGNE (ESP)
111. VALVERDE Alejandro ESP
112. SANCHEZ Luis Leon ESP
113. ROJAS Jose ESP
114. GUTIERREZ Ivan ESP
115. GARCIA Jose ESP
116. DRUJON Mathieu FRA
117. PERGET Mathieu FRA
Team Manager: STEPHENS Neil AUS
EUSKALTEL EUSKADI (ESP)
121. SICARD Romain FRA
122. CASTROVIEJO Jonathan ESP
123. IZAGUIRRE Gorka ESP
124. MINGUEZ Miguel ESP
125. NIEVE Mikel ESP
126. SESMA Daniel ESP
127. VELASCO Ivan ESP
Team Manager: GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO Alvaro ESP
RABOBANK (NED)
131. BROWN Graeme AUS
132. CLEMENT Stef NED
133. FLENS Rick NED
134. LEEZER Tom NED
135. MOERENHOUT Koos NED
136. VAN EMDEN Jos NED
137. WEENING Pieter NED
Team Manager: MAASSEN Frans NED
LIQUIGAS (ITA)
141. DALL ANTONIA Tiziano ITA
142. KOREN Kristjan SLO
143. GUARNIERI Jacopo ITA
144. PATERSKI Maciej POL
145. FINETTO Mauro ITA
146. SAGAN Peter SKV
147. SABATINI Fabio ITA
Team Manager: MARIUZZO Dario ITA
GARMIN TRANSITIONS (USA)
151. BOBRIDGE Jack AUS
152. DEAN Julian NZL
153. MEYER Cameron AUS
154. MEIER Christian CAN
155. LOWE Trent AUS
156. HUNTER Robbie RSA
157. WILSON Matthew AUS
Team Manager: WHITE Matthew AUS
FOOTON-SERVETTO-FUJI (ESP)
161. BENITEZ ROMAN Jos Alberto ESP
162. CARDOSO Manuel POR
163. PEREZ ARRIETA Aitor ESP
164. GUTIERREZ P. David ESP
165. MERLO Michele ITA
166. PEDERSEN Martin DEN
167. VITORIA David SUI
Team Manager: MATXIN Joxean ESP
QUICK STEP (BEL)
171. VAN IMPE Kevin BEL
172. FACCI Mauro ITA
173. KVIST Thomas Vedel DEN
174. MAES Nikolas BEL
175. ENGELS Addy NED
176. VAN DE WALLE Jurgen BEL
177. STAUFF Andreas GER
Team Manager: SLYCKE Rik Van BEL
UNISA – AUSTRALIA (AUS)
181. MATTHEWS Michael ACT
182. DENNIS Rohan SA
183. CLARKE Simon VIC
184. ROE Timothy SA
185. CANTWELL Jonathan QLD
186. McDONALD Peter NSW
187. Australia open road champion (TBC)
Team Manager: SANDERS Dave (AUS)
US TV schedule and live race schedule for Tour Down Under
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