HIGH ROAD ON THE HUNT FOR STAGE WINS IN DAUPHINE LIBERE
High Road will take to the Dauphine Libere this weekend determined to snap up as many stage wins as possible.
“We don’t have a rider for the general classification here.” commented Allan Peiper, co-directing High Road at the prestigious French race with Jan Schaffrath.
“Michael Rogers is still heading back into top condition and George Hincapie isn’t yet in his best form either after his break after the Classics. But what we have got is a lot of options on the stage wins, starting with Michael and George for the opening prologue.”
“George wasn’t so far off the pace in the opening short time trial of the [recent] Tour of Catalonia, so we’re reckon he’s got a good chance. And Mick’s getting better all the time.”
“Then we’ve got Andre Greipel] for the two sprint stages that follow. For the Wednesday time trial Bert Grabsch, George, Adam Hansen - who did an excellent Giro - and Michael should all have strong options.”
For the four tough mountain stages of the Dauphine, Peiper believes that “Michael Barry is more than capable of getting in a good break. He should have won a stage in Catalonia, he was in a long break through the hills that almost stayed away, and if he can shift up another level for the Dauphine he’ll definitely be on the hunt for a stage victory.”
“The great thing is we’ve got real possibilities for all the stages. We can be flexible.”
Young American climber Craig Lewis is also heading for the Dauphine Libere. Lewis rode well in a training camp High Road has just held in the Pyrenees - “when we went up the Hautacam climb he was only a minute or so behind George [Hincapie] and Thomas [Lovkvist] at the top. That’s very promising.”
Looking at the Daupine Libere overall, Peiper says he believes “it is much harder than in previous years, with four difficult mountain stages. Even the two sprint stages have a lot of small climbs in them.”
“It really is going to be like the mini-Tour de France they always used to call it.”
High Road for the Dauphine Libere: Michael Barry (Can); Scott Davis (Aus); Bert Grabsch (Ger); Andre Greipel (Ger); Adam Hansen (Aus); George Hincapie (USA); Craig Lewis (USA); Michael Rogers (Aus).
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