The 95th Tour de France cycling event begins on July 5th and UK registered Team Barloworld is looking to emulate the success it achieved in last year's event. 

For the 2nd year in a row, Team Barloworld is delighted at gaining a wildcard entry to participate in Tour de France, the world's most prestigious cycling competition. Their invitation was a result, not only of last year's success, but the fact that in 2008 the team have already won 12 times - both in Southern Africa and in Europe.

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Tour de France Team Announced 

Barloworld has announced their line-up for the 2008 Tour de France, which starts on the 5th July in Brest - France.The team of 9 riders consists of 3 Africans, 2 Columbians, 2 Italians, 1 Spaniard and 1 Australian.

The team has a distinct two prong attack look about it. Robert Hunter (SA) and Baden Cooke (AUS) clearly are the sprint duo. Mauricio Soler (COL), Felix Cardenas (COL), Moises Duenas (SPA), John-Lee Augustyn (SA) and Christopher Froome (KEN) make up the climbing section of the team. Paulo Longo Borghini (ITA) and Gianpaulo Cheula (ITA) will once again be the all important domestiques. (It was their efforts last year that enabled Team Barloworld to achieve such phenomenal results in the Tour De France).

This is a well structured competitive team able to excel both when it's reasonably flat with Hunter and Cooke as well as when the riders get to the truly great climbs of the Tour De France. Here Mauricio Soler will want to re confirm his status as "King of the Mountains" in the Tour De France which he won last year.

Claudio Corti, Team Manager and his professional back up team utilize the "collective wisdom" within the team. Race tactics are the responsibility of the Team Manager who announces them on a daily basis but only after discussion with both Director Sportifs and riders. The final decision however will come from the Team Manager who controls the team effort via radio to riders from race car one. Within Team Barloworld there is the utmost respect for the leadership of the team, there is also a belief that ‘anything is possible', and there is a belief that ‘if you can dream it, you can do it'. This is instilled in our riders at their very first team training camp."

Claudio Corti said, "This is professional cycling's greatest race and every rider dreams of a stage win, but for us we race for our sponsors because 4.5 billion viewers around the world watch the race. There is an incredibly strong bond within our team, because of this bond we believe we have a team capable once again of surprising the top teams. In Team Barloworld we set ‘mission impossible objectives' and then we set out to prove as a team that ‘nothing is impossible'."

Team Barloworld Tour de France 2008:
1. Mauricio Soler (25) was born in Columbia. Soler's first race was when he was 15 years old and it was then that he decided that he wanted to become a professional rider. He has been professional since 2005 and has 6 victories to his name. Soler's biggest achievement was a stage win (stage 9) in the 2007 Tour de France where he won King of the Mountains, taking home the polka dot jersey.

2. Baden Cooke (30) was born in Benalla, Australia. After a difficult 2007, the Australian sprinter hopes to get back to his best with Team Barloworld. With eight years as a professional cyclist, Cooke has 63 victories to his name. His greatest achievement is having won the green jersey in the Tour De France.

3. Robert Hunter (31), is a South African sprinter and classic cyclist and has been competing professionally since 1998. Hunter, who has a wealth of racing experience for the team to draw upon, has 33 victories to his name, the most famous achievement is a stage win (stage 11) in the 2007 Tour De France.

4. John-Lee Augustyn (22) was born in South Africa. He has been professional since 2007 and his best result was in 2007 where he came 3rd at stage 3 at the Vuelta a Asturias (Esp), and achieved overall standing position at the Vuelta a Asturias.

5. Christopher Froome (22), a talented climber from Kenya, won the Tour De Maurice in 2006, a stage in the 2007 Giro delle Regioni, a prestigious stage race in Italy, a stage at the Tour of Japan and a silver medal at the ‘B' World Championships time trials. Froome had a strong start to the 2008 season by winning the King of the Mountains jersey on the third day of the World's View Challenge and coming second overall at the Giro del Capo.

6. Felix Cardenas (35) has been professional since 2000 and has 21 victories to his name, including winning a stage in the Tour De France.

7. Paolo Longo Borghini was born on 10 December 1980 in Asiago, Italy. Borghini has been professional since 2004 and has one victory to his name, which is first place at the GP Nobili Rubinetterie. Paolo is a world class domestique.

8. Gianpaolo Cheula (29) was born in Premosello Chiovenda - VB, Italy. Cheula has been professional since 2004 and has four victories to his name. Cheula's biggest achievement since turning professional is number one overall standing position at the 2006 Peace Race in 2006.

9. Moisès Dueñas Nevado (27) from Spain has 4 victories to his name since becoming a professional cyclist in 2004. His main achievements took place in 2007: 2nd place in a stage as well as a place in the overall standing category in the Regio Tour. Nevado also took 2nd place in a stage and achieved overall standing position at the Tour de l'Avenir