Jan Ullrich © Cyclingpost.com

BONN, Jun 22 (CP) - By Cyclingpost.com reporter Kathrin Bomans, from the team presentation in Bonn. Ten days before the start of the 92nd Tour de France, Team T-Mobile revealed its nine riders to the public and underlined its determination to race for the victory in the world's most important stage race. Both team manager Walter Godefroot and T-Mobile captain Jan Ullrich stressed the fact that the team was built in view of winning the yellow jersey and carrying it safely to Paris. With mountain specialists like Oscar Sevilla and Giuseppe Guerini, allrounders like Matthias Kessler and Daniele Nardello and domestiques like Tobias Steinhauser and Stephan Schreck, riders were selected to form a well-rounded team for the various challenges of the race. With the three GC riders Jan Ullrich, Alexander Vinokourov and Andreas Klöden, who all made the Tour podium in the past, T-Mobile has several tactical options. On the other hand, though, this constellation triggers questions as to what the hierarchy will be like in the team and how individual aspirations can be united. Godefroot stressed that Jan Ullrich is the captain of the team. "He is the most talented rider," he said, "and has done everything to be in top form." In view of Vinokourov's recent performance in the Dauphiné Libéré he added, however, that tactically the team would like to keep two riders in top GC positions for as long as possible. Jan Ullrich called Vinokourov a joker, who was meant to bring about results. The Kazakh rider himself stressed that the most important goal was to win the yellow jersey with the team and downscaled any personal desires to be the rider on top of the podium in Paris. "It is my job to help Jan", he said. After a rather disappointing spring, Andreas Klöden sees his primary task in helping Ullrich in the mountain stages. "I will concentrate on helping Jan", he said. "It won't be possible to get all three of us on the podium. That would only dissipate our energies. It will be hard enough against Armstrong. We will defy him as long as possible. In the end, though, Jan has to make it, either in the time trials or the mountains." The three top T-Mobile riders have chosen different methods of preparing for the highlight of the cycling season. While Ullrich did reconnaissance rides in the Pyrenees and only left out familiarizing himself with the alpine stages due to lingering snow there, neither Vinokourov nor Klöden rode the Tour stages ahead of the race. They both had not made good experiences with this sort of preparation in the past. Vinokourov added that he did repeated altitude training in the mountains both on Tenerife and in Kazakhstan and that he focussed on improving his time-trial position on the bike. All three T-Mobile riders are content with the present state of their fitness. "Things look very well", Ullrich said, "and I'm motivated and optimistic for the Tour. I feel very well. My form can still be improved, though, and I know that I need to keep working in these last days before the race. But I'm looking forward to finally starting after preparing for nine months." Vinokourov is content with his fitness as well. "The form is there absolutely and gives me motivation," he remarked. Klöden sees his current level at 90-95% and intents to use the first week of the Tour to ride himself into form for the mountain stages. Jan Ullrich is confident that the team is ready for the race. "We all have worked well, and the team is fit and highly motivated," he stressed. "We want the yellow jersey, and we have geared everything to this. In a couple of weeks we will see whether everything has worked out." Even though riders and management give names like Ivan Basso and Floyd Landis as strong competitors in the race for yellow, Lance Armstrong is on the minds of most. Klöden, who watched Armstrong in the Dauphiné Libéré, is convinced that the 6-time Tour winner will be as strong in this year's race as ever. "He did not go 100% in the Dauphiné," Klöden observed and expects Armstrong and his team to be 110% fit in the Tour de France. Also Vinokourov stressed that it would be hard to attack Armstrong but announced that he was ready to take on the American champion. "We will attack," he said.

© Kathrin Bomans