Cycling: Dean lines up for seventh Tour

Julian Dean. Photo / Stephen Parker

Julian Dean will line-up for a seventh time in the Tour de France after he was selected in a nine-strong Garmin-Cervelo team to compete in the 21-day cycling race.

Dean will be the only New Zealander racing in the tour, which begins on July 2, after Greg Henderson and Hayden Roulston missed selection in their respective Team Sky and HTC-Highroad teams.

Dean, who is in his 14th season as a professional, became the best-performed New Zealander in Tour de France history last year when he scored three podium finishes - second in stage four and 18 and third in stage 10.

He also performed well in last year's Giro d'Italia, taking a second in stage 18 and a third in stage 10.

The 36-year-old Dean will most likely retain the role of leadout man for the team's top sprinters, Thor Hushovd and Tyler Farrar, but with 10 flat stages on offer in this year's tour, he will harbour hopes of a stage win if the opportunity arises.

Garmin's lineup includes general classification contenders Christian Van de Velde and David Millar with David Zabriskie, Johan van Summeren, Ryder Hesjedal, and Tom Danielson also providing support.

The 98th Tour de France which ends on July 24, will see the riders tackle a total distance of 3430.5 kilometres.

Besides the stages rated as flat, there are six mountain stages with four summit finishes, three medium mountain stages, and individual time-trial stage of 42.5km and a team time-trial stage of 23km.

- NZPA