Rabobank

TEAM PROFILE Country: Holland Manager: Theo de Rooy Team leader: Michael Boogerd Best Tour: Boogerd fourth in 1998

Rabobank left last year's Tour with little to celebrate after a distinctly average three weeks in the saddle.

But their 2003 season has suggested they have a lot more to offer this time around, particularly in the guise of Michael Boogerd and Oscar Freire.

Boogerd has been the nearly man this season, finishing second behind Davide Rebellin in both the Amstel Gold Cup and the Liege-Bastogne-Liege.

Freire was a runner-up in the Tirreno-Adriatico but won the Milan-San Remo.

However, the Spanish sprinter looks to have lost a bit of the sparkle that saw him twice crowned world champion and will miss the Tour altogether after recent surgery on his backside.

An experienced management team, including former cyclists Frans Maassen and Joop Zoetemelk, have shaped the team in every division and there are other leading lights in the team.

They include Erik Dekker and Levi Leipheimer, who enjoyed a superb 2002 Tour race and should be back on form this time around.

Rabobank, which was previously known as Panasonic and then WordPerfect, is headed by Jan Raas, a former rider of the all-conquering TI Raleigh team of the 1970s, for whom Zootemelk won the Tour 22 years ago.