Bjarne Riis, CSC’s teamboss, does it differently. Being a tough competitor himself (former Tour de France winner), he knows what a team has to do to get the succes all teams want. So he started to get his team together outside the races in the winter. A camp, helping each other when needed, collectively achieving goals, would make his riders rely on each other. It seems to work and 2006 might be his big breakthrough with three grand tours as the ultimate reward. That’s what he’s aiming for, that’s what he wants! Riis has never been modest in what he wants, but this time he could well get it, because he’s got the tools to get the job done and Lance Armstrong no longer there to stand in his way.


Italian Ivan Basso is the main contender for the titles in the grand tours. Only just failing to win the Giro and the Tour in 2005 because of one bad day in both races, he’ll try again this year, backed by a very good team. Well, be honest, if you don’t consider Voigt, Julich, Cancellara (Fassa), Cuesta (Saunier Duval) and Sastre to be a great backup team, you’re not into cycling. All of them have won races on their own merits, many of which were won in 2005. And they actually have more good riders! Since Basso can’t win all three grand tours in one year, Riis will probably have Sastre lead CSC in the Vuelta a España, again, backed by a good team.


The classics will see Jens Voigt as a great force. Like Rabobank’s Erik Dekker, he’s probably among the most attractive cyclists in the world. Always looking for opportunities to attack, riding every single race he can and winning races in a great way. Also Cancellara will be there for the classics, he will rely more on his sprinting powers compared to Voigt, both are excellent time triallists. Then again, almost all CSC riders are drilled to become descent time triallists. Julich is one of those, which gets him victories (2005 Enecotour) in the smaller stageraces. They did lose one rider in particular. Vladimir Gusev (Discovery Channel) went to the competition. We bet that Riis wanted to hold on to this promising cyclist! All in all, Riis made up for the loss of Gusev with adding oldtimer Cuesta and Cancellara, both worthy replacements. New classic rider is Karsten Kroon (Rabo), who was fed up never getting a chance with his old team. Well, he’s got his chance to prove how good he really is!


CSC has never been very strong in the mass-sprints. Time to make a change there. Stuart O’Grady (Cofidis) has been a top sprinter for quite a while, but didn’t impress many in 2005. Riis saw it differently, so now Stu’ can start winning again. He should be backed up by riders like fellow Aussie Luke Roberts who will target some late season wins as well. Arvesen is fast too, and will help getting the sprint victories for CSC.


Quality cyclists are hard to find, but this team has them in abundance. Take Frank Schleck for instance. Before 2005 no-one knew him. By now we know better, for he might be leading the team in races such as the Tour of Switzerland, or even Germany. Also some interesting youngsters have joined Riis. For now new riders like Pedersen will be part of their backup team, but they might show us soon what they’re capable of, like Schleck. Even oldtimers like Peron and Piil still have a fast time trial in them and are well suited for medium mountain and hilly stages.


Succes will all come down to having a little luck, but the different approach will have the team’s riders watch out for each other. On that merit and the type of riders they have, our guess is that “Different Danish Team CSC” will be the team to beat this coming season.


Additions to the team:
Fabian Cancellara, Volodymir Gustov, Inigo Cuesta, Kasper Klostergård, Martin Pedersen, Karsten Kroon, Marcus Ljungqvist, Stuart O'Grady


Left the team:
Tristan Hoffman, Linus Gerdemann, Manuel Calvente, Vladimir Gusev, Thomas Bruun Eriksen