Tour of California Wrapup

2008 Tour of California (California, USA)
February 17-24, 2.HC

Overall Winner: Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Stage Winners:
Prologue - Fabian Cancellara (CSC)
Stage 1 - JJ Haedo (CSC)
Stage 2 - Tom Boonen (Quick.Step)
Stage 3 - Robert Gesink (Rabobank)
Stage 4 - Dominique Rollin (Toyota-United)
Stage 5 - Levi Leipheimer (Astana)
Stage 6 - Luciano Pagliarini (Saunier Duval-Scott)
Stage 7 - George Hincapie (High Road)
Notable Events/Controversies: Besides the Return of Cipo, Cavendish's DQ for holding on to the High Road team car for too long on Stage 6.
Good race for: Riders who like bad weather, especially torrential downpours for 7 hours straight.
Bad race for: Guys who came expecting to work on the tans they started in Qatar.
Pros: Only three field sprints and a very exciting last stage. More climbs and tougher conditions than most of the other early season races.
Cons: In a word: rain.
We'll Remember it for: The return of Super Mario Cipollini. Even though Cipo didn't win any stages, he was a factor in the sprints and seems to still have a good finishing kick despite being out of competition for more than two years. And we'll remember Rollin's win after 7 hours in pouring rain and wind.
What to change for 2009: More climbs, and a bona fide killer mountain stage. California has some huge mountains, USE THEM!
Overall rating: 8/10, even though the weather sucked big time for half the week, the racing was good and the last stage was some really good stuff. Rollin's long breakaway victory on stage 4 was class as well.

Tour Down Under Wrap-up

The 10th edition of the Tour Down Under finished up last week, and now I will inaugurate, if you will, a new feature of this blog: race wrap-ups. Here goes! :)

2008 Tour Down Under (South Australia)
January 20-27, ProTour

Winner: Andre Greipel (High Road)
Stage Winners: Greipel (2, 4, 5,6), Mark Renshaw (Credit Agricole; 1), Allan Davis (UniSA-Australia; 3)
Notable Events/Controversies: Elia Rigotto's (Milram) headbutt which took out Matt Hayman (Rabobank) on Stage 4.
Winners: Greipel, Team High Road.
Losers: Matt Hayman, Allan Davis, and Robbie McEwen, who was totally absent throughout.
Pros: Pretty fast racing, especially for January; good if you like sprinters.
Cons: Not once did a break win the day despite many valiant attacks, particularly by the French.
We'll Remember it for: The emergence of Andre Greipel, probably. And the Rigotto headbutt.
What to change for 2009: MORE HILLS! Even the Willunga Hill didn't stop the sprinters from takind out every stage of the TDU.
Overall rating: 7/10, despite the formulaic sprint finishes, it wasn't bad racing for January. The final stage had some tension in it as well, which was good for the race.


I'll do one for the Tour of Qatar and maybe the 'Cross Worlds as well.

2008 Teams Preview Part 7: Serramenti PVC through Tinkoff Credit Systems

In this final installment, I will discuss the last of the Pro Continental teams, starting with Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni and finishing up with Tinkoff Credit Systems.

Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli
Venezulan/Italian
Team Manager: Antonio Castano
Key Riders: Gilberto Simoni, twice winner of the Giro d'Italia, five times a podium finisher and eight times a stage winner; Alessandro Bertolini, winner of the 2006-7 UCI Europe Tour and six races last year.
Depth: 3/10, a decent squad but not really one strong enough to support Gibo' in the Giro. If he gets the maglia rosa, it will be tough for them to give him the level of protection he has had in the past at Saeco, Lampre, and Saunier Duval.
Expectations: A good Giro and wins in Italian Pro Continental races.

L.P.R. Brakes
Swiss
Team Manager: Davide Boifava
Key Riders: Danilo Di Luca, winner of last year's Giro, 2005 ProTour Champion, six times a Giro stage winner, winner of the Giro di Lombardia, Fleche Wallone, Liege-Bastogne-Liege, and the Amstel Gold Race; Paolo Salvodelli, winner of the 2002 and 2005 Giros, four stage wins, 2nd in 1999 and 5th in 2006, nicknamed "Il Falco" for his descending ability.
Depth: 3/10, outside of Di Luca and Salvodelli, the don't have any riders of note. However, its important to remember that "Il Falco" won the '05 Giro with very little team support.
Expectations: High placings in the Giro and a strong showing by Di Luca in the Ardennes Classics.

Skil-Shimano
Dutch
Team Manager: Arend Scheppink
Key Riders: Nobody really.
Depth: 2/10, a squad of mediocre Dutch, Japanese and Chinese riders who can't cut it in the ProTour.
Expectations: Miscellaneous wins and maybe a wild card invite to the Tour de Suisse or Deutschland Tour.

Slipstream-Chipotle
American
Team Manager: Jonathan Vaughters
Key Riders: Magnus Backstedt, Paris-Roubaix winner and Tour stage winner; Tom Danielson, twice a top-10 finisher in the Vuelta with a stage in 2006, also winner of the 2005 Tour de Georgia; David Millar, who has won three stages in the Tour, two stages of the Vuelta, and is the current British Road and Time Trial Champion; David Zabriske, winner of stages in all three Grand Tours, US Time Trial Champion and second in the 2006 World Tim Trial Championships behind Fabian Cancellara.
Depth: 5/10, a good team with a lot of diversity in terms of nationality and talent.
Expectations: Strong showings in the Giro and Tour, as well as good performances in the Tours of California, Georgia, and Missouri.

Team Volksbank
Austrian
Team Manager: Thomas Kofler
Key Riders: None.
Depth: 0/10. Don't expect to see these guys much this year at all.
Expectations: Ride the Tour de Suisse or Tour of Austria.


Tinkoff Credit Systems
Italian
Team Manager: Omar Piscina
Key Riders: Mikhail Ignatiev, their second most prolific winner last year with five wins; Alberto Loddo, who won 8 races last year including 5 stages of the Tour de Langkawi.
Depth: 4/10, one of the better Pro Continental teams without question.
Expectations: Good performances in small stage races.





That's it for the Team Previews. A Review of the Tour Down Under and Tour of Qatar will be up soon.

2008 Teams Preview Part 6: Intel-Action through Relax-Gam

In this penultimate installment, I will discuss the second group of Pro Continental teams, from Intel-Action through Relax-Gam.

Intel-Action
Polish
Team Manager: Piotr Kosmala
Key Rider: Cezary Zamana, past Polish Champion and past Tour of Poland winner.
Depth: 1/10, they're nobodies.
Expectations: A good Tour of Poland and miscellaneous wins in small races.





Karpin-Galicia
Spanish
Team Manager: Rodrigo Rodriguez
Key Riders: Isidro Nozal, 2 stages and 2nd overall in the 2003 Vuelta; Ezequiel Mosquera, 5th overall in the 2007 Vuelta; Santos Gonzalez, 4th overall and a stage in the 2000 Vuelta.
Depth: 4/10, one of the stronger Spanish Pro Continental teams.
Expectations: A good Vuelta and strong performances in Spanish stage races.


Landbouwkrediet-Tonissteiner
Belgian
Team Manager: Claude Van Coillie
Key Rider: Tom Steels, four-time Belgian champion, 9 stages in the Tour, twice winner of Ghent-Wevelgem.
Depth: 2/10, not much here outside of Steels.
Expectations: A good classics season and some wins in Belgian races.

Navigators Insurance
American
Team Manager: Beamon Edward
Key Riders: David O'Loughlin, thrice Irish Road Champion; Kristian House, winner of many domestic races and other small races.
Depth: 3/10, one of the stronger teams in the American peloton.
Expectations: A strong showing in domestic races and good performances in Europe.


OTC Doors-Lauretana
Italian
Team Manager: Pier Giovanni Baldini
Key Riders: None. Seriously.
Depth: -5/10, I would give them a worse rating but I have a soft spot for Italian teams.
Expectations: Win some small Italian race.

Relax-Gam
Spanish
Team Manager: Guillermo Marcos Guerrero
Key Rider: Francisco Mancebo, Best Young Rider in the 2000 Tour, twice a podium finisher in the Vuelta and 4th in the 2005 Tour.
Depth: 4/10, good riders, but many of them have been tainted by
Operacion Puerto.
Expectations: A solid Vuelta would be the highlight of their campaign.


The final segment, Part 7, will be along in a few days. It will cover the remaining seven teams, from Serramenti-Selle Italia through Tinkoff.

2008 Teams Preview Part 5: Aqua e Sapone through Health Net

In this installment, I will briefly preview the first part of the Pro Continental Teams, starting with Aqua e Sapone and finishing with Health Net-Maxxis. Because many of these teams are small, the previews will also be smaller; Depth ratings are on the same scale as the ProTour teams.

Aqua e Sapone-Caffe Mokambo
Italian
Team Manager: Franco Gini
Key Riders: Stefano Garzelli, 2000 Giro winner, also winner of six stages in his career; Luca Paolini, Vuelta stage winner, 3rd places in both Milano-San Remo and de Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Depth: 5/10, although the team is weak besides Garzelli and Paolini, those two together make this team better than some of the French ProTour teams. Aqua e Sapone is definitely in the top tier of the Pro Continental teams.
Expectations: Win some Italian races; a stage of the Giro would be the high point of their season.

Agritubel
French
Team Manager: David Fornes
Key Riders: Juan Miguel Mercado, twice a stage winner in the Tour; Benoit Salmon, former Best Young Rider in the Tour.
Depth: 4/10, they're a small French team, what more do you want?
Expectations: Wins in small French races, maybe put a couple riders in big breaks in the Tour and hope that they can sneak a stage win or a leaders' jersey for a day.






Andalucia-Cajasur

Spanish
Team Manager: Antonio Cabello
Key Rider: Luis Perez Rodriguez, thrice a top-10 finisher in the Vuelta, and two stage wins.
Depth: 2/10, after Rodriguez, they have nada.
Expectations: Wins in small Spanish races, a good Vuelta for Rodriguez.






Barloworld
British/South African
Team Manager: Claudio Corti
Key Riders: Juan Mauricio Soler, who won a stage and the King of the Mountains jersey in the 2007 Tour; Baden Cooke, winner of the Points jersey in the '03 Tour; Robbie Hunter, second in the Points competition with a stage win in the '07 Tour (also the first African rider to ever win a stage of the Tour).
Depth: 6/10, a very good team which is probably deserving of ProTour status.
Expectations: Miscellaneous sprint wins from Cooke and Hunter, and a good Tour, especially for Soler.





Benfica
Portuguese
Team Manager: Orlando Rodiguez
Key Rider: Jose Azevedo, a top-5 finisher in the Giro and Tour.
Depth: 1/10 Take Azevdeo out of this team and they won't win anything of note for the next 50 years.
Expectations: High finishes in stage races and maybe a mountain stage win for Azevedo.





Ceramica Flaminia
Italian
Team Manager: Massimo Podenzana
Key Riders: You're kidding, right? The only thing any of this team's riders have won in the last 5 years is the National Championships of Belarus.
Depth: Hahaha......0/10, they suck.
Expectations: Ride a race. Just one, that's all the sponsors require.

Ceramica Panaria-Navigare
Irish, yes that's right, they're IRISH!
Team Manager: Roberto Reverberi
Key Riders: Luis Felipe Laverde, twice a Giro stage winner; Fortunato Baliani, a frequent high finisher in the Giro KOM competition; Juli Alberto Perez, two stage wins and the KOM inf the 2002 Giro.
Depth: 4/10, a slightly below-average team which only really comes out to race in the Giro.
Expectations: A good Giro and wins in small Italian races.





Topsport Vlaanderen
Belgian
Team Manager: Christophe Sercu
Key Rider: Nico Eekhout, former Belgian Champion and 2005-6 UCI Europe Tour Champion.
Depth: 3/10, better than would be expected, though, for a small Belgian team.
Expectations: Good placings in the Classics and semi-classics, and a good showing in the UCI European Tour.

DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed
British/Australian
Team Manager: Rudi Dubois
Key Riders: Nico Mattan, winner of the GP Ouest France-Plouay and Ghent-Wevelgem; Hamish Haynes, former British Champion.
Depth: 2/10, very, very poor.
Expectations: A good domestic season and maybe a semi-classic.


Elk Haus-Simplon
Austrian
Team Manager: Alexander Albrecht
Key Riders: None. Seriously.
Depth: -10/10. They make French teams look good.
Expectations: Don't crash the team bus.



Fuerteventura-Canarias
Spanish
Team Manager: Jorge Sastre
Key Riders: Iker Flores is the only rider on this team who I've ever heard of. He was the lanterne rouge of the 2005 Tour.
Depth: 0/10. They are a small Spanish team that amounts to nothing.
Expectations: Get a wild card entry to the Vuelta.

Health Net-Maxxis
American
Team Manager: Mike Tamayo
Key Riders: Gord Fraser, a prolific sprinter in the domestic racing scene; Scott Moninger, the team's best climber; Kirk O'Bee, who has won seven races for Health Net over the last two seasons.
Depth: 3/10, but one of the best teams on the American pro circuit.
Expectations: A fifth consecutive US NRC title and a lot of domestic sucess.

That's the first third of the Pro Continental Teams. Next time I'll preview Intel-Action through Relax-Gam.

2008 Teams Preview Part 4: Rabobank, Saunier Duval, and Silence-Lotto

In the last part of the Preview for the ProTour teams, we will look at two good stage race teams, Rabobank and Silence-Lotto, as well as the mixed bag that is Saunier Duval.

Rabobank

Dutch
Sponsor: A international bank based in the Netherlands
Team Manager: Erik Breukink (Holland)
Key Riders: Oscar Freire, three-time Road World Champion, twice winner of Milano-San Remo, 6 stage wins in the Vuelta in his career, and back-to-back-to-back winner of the semi-classic Brabanste Pijl; Denis Menchov, winner of the 2005 and 2007 Vuelta a Espana, and Best Young rider in the 2003 Tour; Juan Antonio Flecha, who has twice finished on the podium in Paris-Roubaix, and has won the Zuri Metzgete and a stage of the Tour.
Depth: 9/10, the only type of rider that Rabobank is missing is a true climber. They have a great sprinter, a strong stage racer, and an underrated classics rider.
2007 Season: 8/10, a fantastic year with Menchov winning the Vuelta again and Friere racking up 10 wins, which was sadly overshadowed by Rasmussen getting kicked out of the Tour.
Expectations: Stage wins and maybe a green jersey for Freire, a Grand Tour win or podium for Menchov, and a win in one of the Monuments for Flecha.

Saunier Duval - Scott

Spanish
Sponsors: Saunier Duval is a home heating & air conditioning company, and Scott is an American based bike manufacturer
Team Manager: Mauro Gianetti
Key Riders: Leonardo Piepoli, King of the Mountains and a stage win in the Giro; Ricardo Ricco, a stage in the Giro and Best Young Rider; Iban Mayo, winner of the 2003 Tour stage to l'Alpe d'Huez and 6th overall, as well as 2004 Dauphine Libere champion and the winner of the time trial to the top of Mont Ventoux.
Depth: 5/10, a very Spanish team which is dominated by climbers, although the two top riders are Italian. They are lacking a sprinter, and the lost their best time triallist (David Millar) and their biggest GC rider (Gilberto Simoni) in the transfer window.
2007 Season: 8/10, a great Giro and a good Vuelta, but a barely average Tour which was overshadowed by Mayo's positive test for EPO (which was later contradicted by the B sample, and Mayo is free to race).
Expectations: Stage wins in the high mountains and either a serious challenge for either the Giro or Vuelta or a win in the KOM classification.

Silence - Lotto
Belgian
Sponsors: Silence is a subsidiary of Omega Pharma which makes, among other things, drugs which reduce snoring. Lotto is the Belgian national lottery, and one of the most long-running sponsors in pro cycling, having been involved since 1992.
Team Manager: Marc Sergeant
Key Riders: Cadel Evans, 2007 ProTour Champion and Tour de France runner up; Robbie McEwen, winner of 11 Tour stages, 12 Giro stages, 3 times green jersey winner and twice Aussie champion.
Depth: 7/10, despite the loss of Fred Rodriguez and Chris Horner, Silence-Lotto is a strong team and capable of defending an overall lead for Evans or a points lead for McEwen.
2007 Season: 9/10, probably the best that a Lotto-sponsored team has ever had, because of Evans' serious challenges in the Vuelta and Tour. The only thing that would have made it better would have been another green jersey for McEwen.
Expectations: A Grand Tour win for Evans and plenty of wins for McEwen.

That's it for the ProTour Teams. In Part 5, we'll cover the first half of the Pro Continental teams, starting with Aqua e Sapone and going though Health Net.

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.

2008 Teams Preview Part 2: Credit Agricole through Gerolsteiner

For the second installment, we will look at Credit Agricole, CSC, Euskaltel, FdJeux, and Gerolsteiner.

Credit Agricole
French
Sponsor: French bank
Team Manager: Roger Legeay (France)
Key Riders: Thor Hushovd, winner of the Green Jersey and 5 stages of the Tour; Pietro Caucchioli, he has several top-10s in the Giro.
Depth: 3/10, besides Hushovd, Credit Agricole is a very weak team, and Caucchioli is getting old.
2007 Season: 4/10, Hushovd's Tour stage win was their only ProTour win in 2007; Laszlo Bodrogi finished second in the Worlds TT, but that was while riding for Hungary, not Credit Agricole.
Expectations: A Tour stage or two from Hushovd, and some decent stage race placings from Caucchioli.

CSCDanish
Sponsor: Computer Sciences Coroporation (self-explanatory)
Team Manager: Bjarne Riis (Denmark)
Key Riders: Fabian Cancellara, back-to-back World Time Trial Champion, two stages in the 2007 Tour; Stuart O'Grady, winner of last year's Paris-Roubaix; Carlos Sastre, 4th and 2nd in the 2007 Tour and Vuelta, respectively; Jens Voigt, winner of the '07 Criterium International and Tour of Germany, with a stage win in each as well; Andy Schleck, 2nd overall and Best Young rider in the Giro; Frank Schleck (Andy's older brother), winner of the '06 Tour stage to l'Alpe d'Huez and 10th overall.
Depth: 10/10; There is no one better. CSC has everything, from climbers (Sastre, the Schleck bros.), to sprinters (O'Grady, J.J. Haedo), to time triallists (Cancellara, Bobby Julich), to classics riders (O'Grady, Cancellara, Voigt, Frank Schleck).
2007 Season: 10/10, the best team in the world, hands down. 14 ProTour wins, and second places in the and Giro and Vuelta.
Expectations: A Grand Tour win and more of the dominance we saw last year.

Euskaltel-Euskadi
Basque (Spanish)
Sponsors: The Basque telephone company and regional government, respectively.
Team Manager: Miguel Madariga
Key Riders: Sammy Sanchez, 3rd overall and three stage wins in the Vuelta; Haimar Zubeldia, 5th overall in the Tour; Mikel Astarloza, 9th overall in the Tour.
Depth: 6/10, a solid squad, especially in the high mountains of stage races.
2007 Season: 6/10, an average campaign for the Basques, a pretty good Tour overall, although they could have used a stage win, and a very good final week of the Vuelta.
Expectations: A top-5 in the Tour for Zubeldia and a podium finish in a Grand Tour outside of Spain for Sanchez; miscellaneous mountain stages.

Francaise des Jeux (FdJeux)
French
Sponsor: The French National Lottery
Team Manager: Marc Madiot
Key Riders: Sandy Casar, who won their only ProTour race of the season, Stage 18 of the Tour de France; Phillipe Gilbert, winner of the 2006 Omloop Het Volk; Sebastian Chavanel, who placed highly in several Tour sprints last year.
Depth: 2/10, they lost their best young rider, Thomas Lovkvist, to Team High Road and have no one capable of winning any serious stage races.
2007 Season: 4/10, but only because winning a Tour stage for a French team is HUGE. Otherwise they were very mediocre.
Expectations: Very low. A Tour stage win if they're lucky, and Milram & Quick.step have pity on them.

Gerolsteiner
German
Sponsor: German mineral water company
Team Manager: Reimund Dietzen
Key Riders: Davide Rebellin, the best rider in the Ardennes classics over the last three years, with four wins, a second place, and a third, also 2nd in Paris-Nice; Stefan Schumacher, two stages in the '06 Giro, the 2007 Amstel Gold Race, and bronze in the World Championships
Depth: 6/10, a very diverse team with a lot of very strong classics riders and time triallists.
2007 Season: 6/10, seven ProTour wins, including Amstel Gold and Fleche Wallone, as well as stages in the Giro, Dauphine, and Tour of Germany.
Expecatations: A strong showing in the Ardennes classics again, and some wins from their sprinters, especially Heinrich Haussler.

That's Part 2. Part 3 will be along soon, with Team High Road (formerly T-Mobile), Lampre, Liquigas, Milram, and Quick.Step.