Stroband: Ullrich will race

Wolfgang Strohband, manager of Jan Ullrich told reporters of German daily newspaper "Tagesspiegel" that Jan Ullrich will race again next year. Strohband stated: "because of that we will apply for a license" and continued by saying: "criminals are not treated the way Jan is treated."

CSC: Preparing for Giro di Lombardia

For Team CSC this weekend's races in Italy; Giro dell'Emilia and GP Beghelli, are primarily about preparing for next weekend's final ProTour race; Giro di Lombardia, while the team hopes to retain the overall first place in the ProTour Rankings in Sunday's Paris-Tours.

"It's no secret that Giro dell'Emilia and GP Beghelli are preparation for Giro di Lombardia, where we have a number of strong cards to play," says sports director Kim Andersen, who is hoping to be on the podium with the team in Lombardy, as winners of the UCI ProTour.

In a chat session with the Team CSC Official Fan Club just before the World Championships, Fränk Schleck named Giro di Lombardia as one of the races he would like to win the most, but riders like Karsten Kroon and Nicki Sørensen have also proven to be on good form lately.

Sørensen and Schleck are both riding in Italy this weekend, where Schleck finished as runner up in last year's edition of Giro dell'Emilia.

"The race ends in a climb, so it suits Fränk perfectly, but also for Nicki, who has actually been in great shape since the beginning of the Vuelta and most recently in Züri Metzgete. However this weekend the most important thing is not the result, but rather how we keep on track towards the Giro di Lombardia," Andersen continues.

In Paris-Tours the team will be aiming for a good result.

"It's a great line-up we have for Paris-Tours as well, so we hope for a good team result in order to retain the overall ProTour lead, and of course I wouldn't mind winning the race. We have a number of World Championship riders in the line-up, and they all did well in Salzburg, so we definitely have a good chance," says Kim Andersen about riders like Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Lars Bak, Karsten Kroon, Marcus Ljungqvist and Stuart O'Grady, who finished third in 2003, while team mate Jakob Piil won Paris-Tours in 2002. 

Quickstep for Paris-Tours

Folowing riders will take part for Quicksrep in Paris-Tours: Tom Boonen, Steven De Jongh, Kevin Hulsmans, Nick Nuyens, Filippo Pozzato, Sebastien Rossler, Kevin Van Impe, Wouter Weylandt.

Paris-Tours: Phonak is betting on Clerc and Guidi

Aurélien Clerc and Fabrizio Guidi have displayed excellent form in the last couple of races and intend to come up with another top result for Phonak Cycling. In addition, the squad wants to make another good team showing, as they did Thursday at Paris–Bourges. "We'll support Clerc and Guidi with all our strength. If our tactics fall into place during the 254.5-km race, then they stand a good chance of taking a top result," say Gregory Rast and Florian Stalder, who placed 5th at Paris–Bourges. "It's my last race for Phonak Cycling and I definitely want to claim another top result," says Aurélien Clerc looking ahead with a competitive spirit to the race that is usually made very fast by the wind.

Saunier Duval for Paris-Tours and Giro dell' Emilia

Saunier Duval roster for Paris-Tours: Ventoso, Cobo, Mazur, Mejías, Fernández, Cañada, Pagliarini and Zárate. As for the Giro dell´Emilia, the selected riders are Mori, Riccò, Pinotti, Fritsch, Bertogliati, Trentin, Rinero and Zaugg.

Unibet.com for Paris-Tours

Unibet.com roster for Paris-Tours (8/10): Baden Cooke, Johan Coenen, Gorik Gardeyn, Jeremy Hunt, Jonas Ljungblad, Luis Pasamontes, Laurens ten Dam and Marco Zanotti.

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