2008 Teams Preview Part 3: High Road through Quick.Step

Part Three includes five of the best teams in the 2008 ProTour, High Road (formerly T-Mobile), Lampre, Liquigas, Milram, and Quick.Step.


High Road
German
Sponsor: None; T-Mobile removed its name from the team, although it is still contractually obligated to pay High Road the sponsorship money. High Road is the name of the company which owns the team.
Team Manager: Bob Stapleton (USA)
Key Riders: Michael Rogers, three-time World Time Trial Champion; Gerald Ciolek, a triple stage winner in the Tour of Germany last year and 3rd in the Vattenfall Cyclassics; Mark Cavendish, who won 3 stages and the points jersey in the Tour of Britain; George Hincapie, winner of the Tour of Missouri and second in the USPRO Championships.
Depth: 9/10, this is a very strong team that Stapleton has assembled. The only issue they may have is that there is no obvious #2 stage race rider after Rogers, so if he gets injured as he did last year, they won't have a chance of winning any big stage races.
2007 Season: 7/10, a good set of wins throughout and a yellow jersey for a day in the Tour was overshadowed by Rogers abandoning the Tour in the Alps.
Expectations: Lots of sprint wins for the youngsters Cavendish and Ciolek, and a Grand Tour podium for Rogers.


Lampre-Fondital
Italian
Sponsors: Lampre makes sheet metal, Fondital makes heaters and radiators.
Team Manager: Giuseppe Saronni
Key Riders: Alessandro Ballan, winner of de Ronde van Vlaanderen, the Three Days of De Panne, and the Vattenfall Cyclassics in 2007; Damiano Cungeo, twice winner of the Giro di Lombardia, 2004 Giro d'Italia champion, winner of the Best Young Rider classification in the 2006 Tour; Danilo Napolitano, winner of six races in 2007, including Stage 9 of the Giro.
Depth: 7/10, although they will feel the loss of their best sprinter, Daniele Bennnati, to Liquigas, Lampre are a good team and will be capable of defending Cunego if he takes the maglia rosa.
2007 Season: 9/10, Ballan was excellent throughout, they won the Team classification in the Giro, and Bennati racked up 14 wins, including two Tour stages, three Vuelta stages, and the Points classification.
Expecations: A solid set of results by Ballan in the classics and a serious challenge for the maglia rosa or malliot jaune by Cunego.

Liquigas

Italian
Sponsor: Liquigas sells propane.
Team Manager: Roberto Amadio
Key Riders: Daniele Bennati, winner of two stages in the '07 Tour and three in the Vuelta, with the points classification too boot; Filippo Pozzato, 2006 Milano-San Remo champion, twice winner of Tour stages and the 2007 Omloop Het Volk; Leonardo Bertagnolli, winner of the 2007 Clasica San Sebastian.
Depth: 5/10, after Bennati and Pozzato, Liquigas is decidedly thin.
2007 Season: 8/10, probably the best that they could have hoped for with Di Luca's Giro and Liege-Bastogne-Liege wins, Bertagnolli's victory in San Sebastian, and Pozzato's stage in the Tour. Di Luca's wins were overshadowed, however, by his four-month suspension stemming from the Oil-for-Drugs scandal.
Expectations: Stage wins from Bennati and Pozzato, perhaps a win on the Via Roma or Avenue de Grammont for the former.


Milram

German
Sponsor: Milram sells yogurt and milk products.
Team Manager: Gerry van Gerwen
Key Riders: Alessandro Petacchi, winner of five stages, the points classification, the Combativity classification, and the Azzuri d'Italia award at the 2007 Giro, also winner of two Vuelta stages and Paris-Tours; Erik Zabel, six-time Tour points jersey winner and 12-time stage winner, four-time winner of Milano-San Remo, twice German champion, three times winner of Paris-Tours, thrice Vuelta points champion with eight Vuelta stages as well, and he has the highest number of victories (192) of any active rider; Igor Astarloa, 2003 Fleche Wallone winner and the 2003-4 Road World Champion; Peter Velits, 2007 U-23 Road World Champion.
Depth: 5/10, Milram is a team built around Petacchi and Zabel, and they don't have much else.
2007 Season: 8/10, because of yet another great year for the Ale-Jet.
Expecatations: Grand Tour stage wins, points jerseys, and high placings or wins in the sprinters' classics.

Quick.Step - Innergetic
Belgian
Sponsors: Quick.Step makes laminate flooring, and Innergetic makes mattresses.
Team Manager: Patrick Lefevere
Key Riders: Paolo Bettini, back-to-back Road World Champion, reigning Olympic Champion of the Road Race, three-time winner of the World Cup (the predecessor of the ProTour); Tom Boonen, 2005-6 Road World Champion, two stages and the points jersey in the 2007 Tour, winner of the 2007 Kuurne-Brussles-Kuurne, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, and E3 Prijs Vlaanderen; Gert Steegmans, Boonen's lead-out man and winner of the '07 Tour stage into Ghent.
Depth: 8/10, Quick.Step is a very deep squad for the classics and flat stages in stage races, but lacks an overall challenger in the Grand Tours.
2007 Season: 7/10, it would have been a fantastic year for most teams, but Quick.Step's high expectations for the early part of the season were not fulfilled. They rebounded though, with three stages in the Tour, the points jersey, and Bettini's stage in the Vuelta before he won his second consecutive Rainbow Jersey in Salzburg.
Expectations: A significantly better showing in the Spring Classics, and another malliot vert for Boonen in the Tour.

That's Part 3; in Part 4 I'll finish up the ProTour Teams with Rabobank, Saunier Duval-Scott, and Silence-Lotto.