The Belgian team will start with Paolo Bettini and Tom Boonen. Both riders will use the final grand tour of the 2008
season to prepare themselves for the UCI Road Race World Championships in Varese (Italy). The 2 captains will pick a few stages
of the Vuelta to add a stage win to their already impressive palmares.
Juan Manuel Garate and Carlos Barredo are Quicksteps men for the overall of the 3 week Spanish stage race. Last
year Barredo finished 10th overall in the Vuelta.
Quickstep sports director Wilfried Peeters told sporza.be: "With Boonen we target one or more stage wins."
Peeters continued: "Van Impe [Kevin, editor] will be allowed to ride a grand tour. He needs such a big stage race to
improve his condition."
"For [Wouter, editor] Weylandt it will be the first grand tour of his career. Hopefully he recovered well enough from
a training crash," Peeters said. "He must ride in the train for Boonen. The main goal is that Weylandt will ride until Madrid."
"Barredo,
last year 10th, is our man for the overall," Peeters added. "Together with Garate. For Bettini this will be the preparation
for the worlds," Peeters concluded.
Quickstep for Vuelta Espana 2008:
Carlos Barredo, Paolo Bettini, Tom Boonen, Juan Manuel Garate, Andrea Tonti, Matteo Tosatto, Kevin Van Impe, Davide Vigaṇ
and Wouter Weylandt.
