Tour de France: Rabobank Squad
Experienced Squad: Michael Boogerd, Denis Menchov, Oscar Freire, Juan Antonio Flecha, Michael Rasmussen with Thomas Dekker making his Tour debut.

Experienced team for Rabobank in Tour
Team leaders Erik Breukink and Erik Dekker of the Rabobank Cycling Teams have announced their selection of nine riders who will represent Rabobank in this year’s Tour de France.

Rabobank
Tour de France Squad
Michael Boogerd
Bram de Groot
Thomas Dekker
Juan Antonio Flecha
Oscar Freire
Denis Menchov
Grischa Niermann
Michael Rasmussen
Pieter Weening
Reserves: Theo Eltink, Koos Moerenhout

The Tour de France starts July 7th in London, Great Britain, and will finish three weeks later on the Champs-Elysées in Paris, France. Theo Eltink and Koos Moerenhout will be listed as reserves by Breukink and Dekker.

Six Stage Winners in Squad
Rabobank’s selection no less than six riders who are former stage winners in the Tour de France: Michael Boogerd (1996 and 2002), Juan Antonio Flecha (2003), Oscar Freire (2002 and 2006 – two stages), Denis Menchov (2006), Michael Rasmussen (2005 and 2006) and Pieter Weening (2005). On top of that, Denis Menchov won the young rider classification of the Tour de France in 2003. Michael Rasmussen was the 2005 and 2006 winner of the mountains classification on behalf of Rabobank.

Michael Boogerd is by far Rabobank’s most experienced rider in the Tour de France. Boogerd will make his twelfth start in the Tour de France on July 7th. In 1998 he came in fifth; his best final result so far. In 2001, Boogerd also finished in the Tour de France top ten. Denis Menchov’s best result was his sixth place in the final classification in 2006. Michael Rasmussen was the number seven of the 2005 edition of the Tour de France. All together, the nine riders of the Rabobank Cycling Team combine for the experience of 39 starts in the Tour de France so far. Thomas Dekker is the only first time starter in the Tour de France squad of Breukink and Dekker.