Record Aussie field for Tour de France

AUSTRALIAN Michael Rogers has been named captain of the HTC-Columbia team for the Tour de France.

Michael Rogers, front, on his way to winning the Tour of California in May.

CANBERRA'S Michael Rogers is leaving nothing to chance as he spearheads HTC-Columbia's challenge for the yellow jersey at the Tour de France.

Rogers, who won the Tour of California last month, has spent the last seven days at an altitude training camp in Livigno in the Italian Alps to round off his preparation for the start in Rotterdam on July 3.

While HTC-Columbia's best chance of winning a jersey is Briton Mark Cavendish, Rogers' chances for the overall shouldn't be written off.

Cavendish will again have the services of Bathurst's Mark Renshaw as his lead-out man, who will be riding in his third Tour de France. Renshaw has helped Cavendish win 10 stages of the past two Tours de France.

Team manager Rolf Aldag says that with the addition of Adam Hansen, of Cairns, who turned 29 last month, the team is capable of focusing on the overall result.

Hansen, who has 10 career wins next to his name, will be entering the Tour for the first time. His addition brings the number of Australians in the race to 12.

The previous highest number of Australian entrants was 10, in 2005 (Cadel Evans finished eighth that year).

"Rogers has had the best season of his career to date and is very focused on contending in the general classification," Aldag said.

"Tony Martin comes off a very successful Tour of Switzerland, where he held the yellow jersey for the first part of the race and won the closing time-trial, making him the first person to beat Fabian Cancellara in a time-trial in three years.

"They will be supported by Maxime Monfort, who showed excellent form at the Tour of Switzerland, as well as Adam Hansen, who won the Ster Elektrotoer stage race last weekend and Kanstantsin Siutsou, who is a tireless worker on both flat and mountainous terrain."

Aldag said the HTC-Columbia team would focus on grabbing as many points as possible during the flatter stages, in a bid for Cavendish to win the green jersey.

"To win, we need to concentrate all points with one sprinter. As a result we have not included Andre Greipel in the roster," added Aldag.

"Mark won six stages of the Tour de France last year and we have faith that he will be highly successful in the 2010 Tour."

Team owner Bob Stapleton says the team is capable of giving the Tour de France a shake.

"The team is focused on our combined strength. The aim is to have a go at stage wins, as well as target the jerseys," Stapleton said.

The HTC-Columbia team for the Tour de France: Michael Rogers, Mark Renshaw, Adam Hansen (Aust), ,Mark Cavendish (Great Britain), Bernhard Eisel (Austria), Bert Grabsch , Tony Martin (Germany), Maxime Monfort (Belgium), and Kanstantsin Sivtsov (Belo Rus).