Frank is next scheduled to ride the national TT championship on Thursday and to defend his national road title on Sunday.
Little bro' Andy last year arrived 12th in the TdF final GC (11th if you don't consider Kohl's 3rd place) but got bonked during Hautacam's stage.This year he'll run his second Tour and he's supposed to be Contador's main adversaire.As you probably remember,he arrived 2nd at the Giro d'Italia 2007,won this year's Liege,won the TT national championship twice and the young rider classification in the 2 Grand Tours he's run until now.This year he won a stage in TdL and arrived 2nd in Fleche Wallonne behind Rebellin.Between his other good results there are also the 4th place in 2007 Giro di Lombardia,the 4th one at last year Olympic Riad Race (Rebellin,who came 2nd,was then found positive to an anti-doping control) and the 4th one in last year's Liege.
Regarding the other members of the SB team,Fabian Cancellara has just won the TdS,was 3rd at the Olympic road race last year,won the TT Olympic title,one Paris-Roubaix,one Milan-Sanremo,3 stages at Le Tour,some World TT championships and wore the yellow jersey for about 9 days during his career.Last year he didn't win any stage,but you must consider that Stefan Schumacher (who defeated him in the last TT of the race) was then found positive at the anti-doping.And even if he didn't win any stage,Fab Fab raced a great Tour in 2008,helping the team leaders (Andy,Frank and Sastre) during all the mountain stages.Oh and,talking about Cancellara:there's a little village in Basilicata that is called "Cancellara".And Fabian's father actually comes from Basilicata...
Stuart O'Grady is another great rider.He entered the SB team at the end of the year 2005 and in his career he's won 2 stages at Le Tour (plus one TTT) and one Paris-Roubaix.He used to be a track cyclist and he achieved a lot of good results in that discipline,for example he won the gold medal in Men's Madison at the 2004 Olympic Games (that he raced with Graeme Brown).He also wore the yellow jersey at the Tour in 1998 and in 2001.Although last year he broke a collarbone during the Giro he managed to run the TdF and did a very good job as a helper during the mountain stages.This year he had a bad fall in Milan-Sanremo,but now he's back and seems ready to fight in the Tour.
Jens Voigt doesn't need any presentation.I think you just have to say that in one German village people decided to dedicate him a street if you want to make someone understand how great this rider is.He became pro when he was 26 year-old,but he achieved some very good results in his career.For example,he wore the yellow jersey at the Tour in 2001 and in 2006,won the Criterium International for 5 times (5!) and the Deutschland Tour for 2 times.Then he also won 2 stages at the TdF,1 stage at the Giro,1 Tour of Poland and he also arrived 2nd in a Liege.Last year he worked very well for the team in the TdF,which he rode after a good Giro in which he achieved his first victory in the corsa rosa.
Nicki Sorensen has been riding for team SB since 2001.He's a Dane rider and he started his cycling career when he was 19 year old.He's a very good helper but he's never won any stage at the Tour.Instead,he's won a stage at the Vuelta (see photo).Last year he became national road champion.
Chris-Anker Sorensen (which is not the same person as Nicki Sorensen) is racing the Tour for the first time in his life this year but has already ridden the Vuelta in 2007 and the Giro in 2008. He was 28th in 2008 Giro's GC and 19th in the Vuelta's one.He turned pro with Saxo Bank in 2007,lives in Luxembourg and,if somebody hasn't suspected it yet,he's one of my 3 favourite riders.He's won 3 races in his pro career: the TTT at the Poland Tour in 2007,the stage of La Toussuire at last year's Dauphine Libéré and the Kitzbuehel stage at last year Tour of Osterreich (where he even wore the leader jersey for one day and was finally 4th in the GC).He also came in 12th in the Olympic Road Race and in 13th at the Mendrisio World Championship.
Kurt-Asle Arvesen is a Norwegian rider who has been racing for Saxo Bank for the last 5 years. He's been the U23 Road World Champion in 1997,he's been 3 times road race national champion and 2 times TT national champion.He's achievced lots of good victories in his career,for example he's won 2 stages at the Giro and 1 stage at last year Tour.Then he's won the Ster Elektro-Tour once and the Denmark Rundt twice.He also came in 2nd at the 2006 Paris-Tours.
Gustav Larsson is a Swedish rider who's been racing with Saxo Bank since last year.He was born in 1980 and is a very good time trialist.He's been Swedish national TT champion twice and last year he arrived 2nd in the TT Olympic race in Beijing.
So,here are the Saxo Bank riders for this year Tour.I didn't include all the results of the riders but just the main ones and I hope I didn't forget anything of important and that I didn't make any mistake.Good luck to all the riders who are going to race the Tour and let's hope that Fab Fab wins the Monaco's prologue and that Saxo Bank riders will do well in all the other stages.Hear you again on the 5th of July! :)
(Photos made by TDW,Reuters and AFP Getty Images.Some of them were found on other cycling blogs and didn't have any credit).
Cancellara made a very good race and at the end of that stage was 2° with 9 seconds to recuperate on Valjavec.Also Gustav Larsson and Chris-Anker Sorensen did a great race,helping Cancellara all day and arriving in the first group of riders.
Andy speaking German is sooo cute!!! "Neeeee"...It reminds me of the good old times up in Voigt-Land...Anyway,a little translation of his interview would sound like "Yes,today I wanted to get the yellow jersey,I lost it just for 2 seconds but,well,I can still get it tomorrow.Btw I think the balance for the team is good: we've won the stage and I'm seond in the GC".
Roman Kreuziger,last year winner of TdS,came in 2nd (19 seconds behind Cancellara).Third was Andreas Kloden.Frank Schleck came in 33rd,while Andy Schleck came in 48th.Here's a little stage classification:
Scaring Eyebrows Evans instead complained because he found no cooperation in the chase."It was bizarre,it seems like not many people want to win the Dauphiné.When you add the headwind to the yellow jersey,it's not easy to climb the Mont Ventoux.I expected more from Contador."
The second stage of the race saw an attack of David Millar.The Garmin rider attacked with about 5 kms to go but,unfortunately for him,he was caught by the rest of the peloton few meters before of the finish-line.The favourite of the stage was Boonen,but the Belgian eventually came in 3rd,behind the winner Angelo Furlan and Markus Zberg.
Second came Turpin,while third was Trofimov.If somebody's interested,on these links 
"The course of the race is going exactly as we had agreed before start this morning. After 115 kilometres we get to the front and split the peloton on the mountain where the best riders follow but many are surprised by our tactics and are left behind. On the way to Diekirch more riders are being dropped and at some point eleven riders are left in the front group, whereas six of these are our riders.Finally Klöden attacks from the group and Fränk follows and has the strength to go alone on the last two kilometres. Tomorrow we must try to keep the field in one bunch until the finish line where we put our trust in Matti and hope he can do a good sprint”, said a delighted Kim Andersen after the stage.On today's stage the team had three riders in the top five. Team Saxo Bank is besides the individuel GC also in the lead of the team- and point competition and three riders are in the top five in the competition of young riders. 
"Most importantly we got a victory for the team today and of course it is always cool to be at the front of the race and be able to ride for the victory in the finals. The course is generally only getting tougher from now on, and both Fränk, Andy and I are well-placed in the GC so we must be aggressive and play the other GC-riders against each other in the finals the last two days of the race. Tomorrow's finish line is uphill so there should be an opportunity to create yet another successful result”, said Matti Breschel. 
His "cyling tip" is "one day of success or one victory pays you back for all the pain and all the work you've done over the years".His favourite training ride is a 5 or 6 hours ride (!),on a sunny and hot summer day,in a beautiful place,with good music,dreaming about the Tour de France. His favourite cycling moment was Athens 2004 Olympic Games.Konovalovas lives in France and both his parents were cyclists.His mom even won an Olympic bronze medal in Seul.
