objectives," he said. "We have formed a group of riders with several young cyclists who this year will be that much closer to their sporting maturity and in whom we have placed our hopes to make a great leap for the entire squad. The average age of the team is just 26 years old and as many as 15 riders are 25 or under, indicating their great potential for improvement."   Leading this charge will be Allan Davis, Carlos Barredo and Luis Le?n S?nchez.

Race organizers of the 2006 world championship in
Salzburg, Austria, have approached the UCI with a view to shortening the race from 280 km to 220 km.   The organizers believe that shortening the race will force the teams to go on the offensive earlier in the race, making the event more spectacular and exciting for riders and spectators alike.

ASO, organizers of Paris-Roubaix, Fl?che Wallonne, and Li?ge-Bastogne-Li?ge, have announced the wild card entries for the three races, just a few months away.  

All 20 ProTour teams are guaranteed an automatic start: T-Mobile Team, Gerolsteiner, Lampre, Team Milram, Liquigas, Davitamon-Lotto, Quick Step-Innergetic, Rabobank, Team CSC, Phonak Hearing Systems, Caisse d'Epargne-Illes Balears, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Liberty Seguros-W?rth, Saunier Duval-Prodir, Discovery Channel, AG2R Prevoyance, Cofidis - cr?dit par t?l?phone, Cr?dit Agricole, Fran?aise des Jeux, and Bouygues Telecom.

Five Professional Continental teams will be given wildcard slots for each race as follows:

Paris-Roubaix: Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, Unibet.com, Skil-Shimano, Agritubel, Team L.P.R.

Fl?che Wallonne: Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen, Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, Unibet.com, Barloworld, and Agritubel.

Li?ge-Bastogne-Li?ge: Chocolade Jacques-Topsport Vlaanderen, Landbouwkrediet-Colnago, Unibet.com, Barloworld, and Agritubel.

Until next week,

Ian
ian@roadcycling.com