 | TEAM PROFILE Country: Spain Manager: Manolo Saiz Best Tours: n/a |
This newly formed team has generated a lot of interest for a number of reasons since they were created. Reason one is the man behind it - ex-Once boss Manolo Saiz, who has brought some of his former charges with him.
Among those are Isidro Nozal and Igor Gonzalez de Galdeano, who have both proved themselves on the biggest stage.
But the biggest coup of the lot looks to have been arguably the steal of the season - snapping up Roberto Heras from Lance Armstrong and the US Postal boys.
Heras decided he had had enough of living in the shadow of Armstrong and helping him up the Tour de France's tougher ascents.
Saiz has certainly paid for his services, forking out �1.1m to buy him out of his contract and reportedly backing that up with a �800,000-a-year salary.
Some had suggested Heras was past it after a poor Tour de France last year but he drastically made amends by winning last year's Vuelta d'Espana.
As a team leader on the Tour at least and with some impressive back-up, Heras and his Liberty team could pull something out of the bag this time around.
MMIX
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