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Competition Profile: CAISSE D'EPARGNE 2008




Description
Written by Wicky (2008-04-11 10:43)
Translated by Lord Blackadder (2008-04-11 10:43)

It’s a classic by now: telling that the team classification is very important for Spanish teams. But we can’t speak of a real fight anymore as we used to see between the Once squad of Manolo Saiz and (I)Banesto of Echávarri and Unzue. Those last two mentioned men nowadays run the strong Caisse d’Epargne team. And not without success.


The team overflows with Mediterranean talent with some additional South-American quality riders. To please the French sponsor the team now has Perget, Portal and new arrivals Charteau (Credit Agricole), Coyot (Unibet.com), Drujon (Auber 93) and Petanchon (FD Jeux), enough French riders to send to the races in ‘the country of brie and champagne’.


And then there is the Spanish talent. The first name that everyone will think of is Valverde. But even if, as in last year, the Murcian rider can’t or isn’t allowed to appear, Caisse d’Epargne can still send a very strong squad with climbing talents like Arroyo, Pasamontes (arrived from Unibet.com), Lopez, Moreno (new from Relax-Gam), Pereiro, Zandio and Luis Leon Sanchez. Add to that the new Freire, Rojas, and Valverde ‘light-version’ Rodriguez, Gutierrez and the foreign riders Karpets, Rujano and young Uran (both from Unibet.com) and we can be sure to see a lot of the black jerseys at the front of the races again this year.


With Perez, Horrach, Lastras and Garcia-Acosta Unzue and Echávarri also have some very strong team mates available, who are also able to get their own success in an escape group. The loss of some strong riders has been completely compensated with the above mentioned names. Ruben Plaza and Aitor Perez were never able to show their real talent at Caisse d’Epargne and left for lower division teams.


After his breakthrough Efimkin sought a role as team captain and found it at AG2R. In the French rider exchange Berthou, Brard and Sébastien Portal went back to their homeland. Finally, the loss of the in the early spring excelling Reynes and the powerful Russian Markov should not be over-rated. The first mentioned didn’t show much after the start of the season and has been more than adequately replaced by sprinting talent Rojas. Markov chose for an Olympic year on the track, which would have been hard to combine with racing at Caisse d’Epargne. Besides that, his results in 2007 didn’t really give reason for a new contract anyway.


For the riders in black it will be a matter of survival in the cobblestone classics, but after that they are likely to dominate the rest of the year. With Rodriguez and Valverde in the hilly classics, Karpets and Rujano in the Giro, Valverde again in the Tour (if he is allowed to start) and a mix of Spanish climbers in the Vuelta the year can really start after Paris-Roubaix.


In
Anthony Charteau (Crédit Agricole), Arnaud Coyot, José Rujano, Rigoberto Uran, Luis Pasamontes (Unibet.com), Mathieu Drujon (Auber 93), Daniel Moreno (Relax-Gam), Marlon Perez (Universal Caffe), Fabien Patanchon (Française des Jeux)


Out
Eric Berthou (Crédit Agricole), Sébastien Portal, Florent Brard (Cofidis), Vladimir Efimkin (AG2R La Mondiale), Marco Fertonani (suspended), Alexei Markov (Katyusha), Aitor Perez

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