Bet on cycling

Saxo Bank team owner Bjarne Riis has made some strategic changes to the line-up at Saxo Bank for 2010 but can still rightly boast to have the strongest classics team in cycling and a Tour de France favourite.

Some key riders have moved to other teams but they have been replaced with young talents that have already shown their potential. Jakob Fuglsang won the Tour of Denmark and his strong climbing and consistency in the Vuelta a España made him stand out. Chris Anker Sorensen and Alex Rasmussen also proudly flew the flag for Saxo Bank and Danish cycling.

The 2010 Saxo Bank team still includes veterans Jens Voigt and Stuart O’Grady in its line-up, while new riders for 2010 include Australia’s Baden Cooke, Didier Laurent of Luxembourg and Lucas Haedo, brother of Argentinean sprinter Juan Jose.

The team leaders at Saxo Bank are without a doubt Switzerland’s Fabian Cancellara and Andy Schleck of Luxembourg.

Cancellara dominated the time trial World Championships at home in Switzerland in 2009 and will be very difficult to beat in any time trial in 2010. Cancellara’s win at the Tour of Switzerland showed his huge potential in stage races.

Andy Schleck is widely recognised as the biggest threat to Alberto Contador in major stage races and can count on unique help from his older brother Frank. Andy finished fourth in the UCI World Ranking in 2009 but could well do even better in 2010.

“Our team is definitely on a par with that of 2009. We still have the world’s best classics team but we’ve also made room for the younger to step up.” Riis said.