It’s a classic by now: telling that the team classification is very important for Spanish teams. But we can’t speak of a real fight anymore as we used to see between the Once squad of Manolo Saiz and (I)Banesto of Echávarri and Unzue. Those last two mentioned men nowadays run the strong Caisse d’Epargne team. And not without success.


The team overflows with Mediterranean talent with some additional South-American quality riders. To please the French sponsor the team now has Perget, Portal and new arrivals Charteau (Credit Agricole), Coyot (Unibet.com), Drujon (Auber 93) and Petanchon (FD ...