Silence-Lotto and Bouygues Telecom confirmed for the Tour Down Under

European ProTour teams Silence-Lotto and BBox Bouygues Telecom have confirmed they will compete in next month’s Tour Down Under in Australia.

BBox Bouygues Telecom will send an all-French team and Belgium’s Silence-Lotto will field an experienced European contingent.

“I am pleased to see Mario Aerts back in Australia riding for Silence-Lotto, he is a Tour Down Under favourite,” race director Mike Turtur said Friday.

“Mario is a consummate professional in the peloton, having achieved some major cycling milestones in his career.”

Last year Aerts finished all three grand tours: the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia and the Vuelta, making him the 25th rider in the history of cycling to do so.

Silence-Lotto will also have the current Australian national road champion Matthew Lloyd in its lineup, Turtur said.

“BBox Bouygues is bringing an experienced team to Adelaide, with riders having performed well at the 2008 Tour de France and 2008 Vuelta a Espana,” Turtur said.

The Silence-Lotto team features Mario Aerts (BEL), Glenn D’Hollander (BEL), Pieter Jacobs (BEL), Olivier Kaisen (BEL), Jonas Ljungblad (SWE), Matthew Lloyd (AUS) and Tom Stubbe (BEL).

BBox Bouygues Telecom’s all-French line-up is Matthieu Sprick, Mathieu Claude, Vincent Jerome, Laurent Lefevre, Rony Martias, Alexandre Pichot and Perrig Quemeneur.

Organizers have already announced that French teams Francaise des Jeux, Ag2r La Mondiale and Cofidis will be competing at the Tour Down Under, which will be held in South Australia from January 18 to 25.

FILED UNDER: Road TAGS: Tour Down Under