The Tour de France may be over but the Pro Tour season continues and the next race on the calendar is the Basque Country Classic, the Clasica San Sebastian. With 6 tough climbs along the 227km course, this will be a tough race that in all likelihood will have the peloton blown to pieces. Watch for a Tour de France rider backing up to have carried his form forward.
Team CSC reports that Bobby Julich will be back in action at the Clásica San Sebastian which gets underway on Saturday, 4th August. The former 3rd placegetter of the Tour de France has been out with a stomach virus but is now back and raring to go.
Gerolsteiner have announced their squad for the Clásica San Sebastian led by Brixia Tour winner Davide Rebellin.
Lampre are also looking forward to the San Sebastian with Sports Director Fabrizio Bontempi buoyed by the success during the Tour de France. He explains "San Sebastian is a kind of race that could end with a sprint of 30-40 riders and in this case we have good chances with fast athletes such as Ballan and Baldato."
Lampre have also announced three new trainees for the team: they're Marco Bandiera, Maurizio Girardini and Leonardo Pinizzotto.
Meanwhile Astana have announced that they will suspend racing for August while they take some time out to consider their future as a team. This will take the form of new team regulations and structure.
Credit Agricole have announced that 3 new stagiaires (trainees) have joined the team. The 3 newbies are Yohan Bogot, Ignas Konovalovas and Sébastien Fournet Fayard.
As most of us will be aware by now, Cofidis have reaffirmed their commitment to fight doping at all levels. Their Manager General Eric Boyer went on to explain that to withdraw the team from competition would be punishing the many for the crime of one. In that vein Cofidis have announced their team for the Clasica San Sebastian on August 4.
The Euskaltel - Euskadi team have already forgotten the Tour de France and are single-minded in their preparation for their home one-day Classic on August 4. They have named their "big three" Haimar Zubeldia, Mikel Astarloza and Samuel Sanchez to head the team. Newly crowned Tour Most Combative rider Amets Txurruka and Igor Anton will be leading the team for the following day's Subida Urkiola.
Team Milram have sent a team to the Clasica San Sebastian with the aim to support Mirko Celestino who has already had some good rides at the race in the past.
The push for US founded team Slipstream to have form European based team is building with a flurry of recent announcements of new signings.
