Bobby Julich, David Zabriskie and Christian Vande Velde each earned a return ticket to the Tour de France after Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis named them Monday to the nine-man team that enters the July 1 start as one of the heavy favorites.

With Team CSC captain Ivan Basso looking to follow up his Giro d’Italia victory, the three Americans will be part of a formidable team that will ride to support Basso’s ambitions of becoming the first racer since Marco Pantani in 1998 to win the Giro and Tour in the same year.

“We go to France this year with one ambition: to win with Ivan Basso,” Riis said on the team’s web page. “After his victory in the Giro, and with the training he’s done in the period since then, I have no doubt he is ready for this next big challenge. He has the class, the will-power and also the team behind him to be one of the favorites.”

Julich, third overall in the 1998 Tour, was part of Basso’s Giro-winning team last month and joined Basso and other teammates in a special training camp to inspect the three important climbing stages in the Alps last week.

Zabriskie – who earned the maillot jaune when he won the opening stage last year as a Tour rookie – won two time trials in the Dauphiné Libéré earlier this month to prove he’s in top condition. Zabriskie remains the only American to have won stages in all three grand tours.

Vande Velde missed the Giro after breaking his clavicle in a spill at Paris-Nice, but bounced back to win his first European race at the Tour of Luxembourg and then finished in the top 15 at the Tour de Suisse.

“We are bringing a fantastic team to the Tour de France this year,” Riis said. “When you look at the names, you cannot help but notice that this is a team to be reckoned with, a team which has the foundation to be one of the dominating ones in the 2006 edition of the Tour.”

Also lining up behind Basso will be Carlos Sastre, Jens Voigt, Giovanni Lombardi, Stuart O’Grady and Tour rookie Fränk Schleck.

Riis said it wasn’t easy narrowing the list down to nine riders. Missing out were several riders from last year’s Tour team as well as Paris-Roubaix champion Fabian Cancellara.

“As so often before it has been a difficult task to select the remaining riders for this team, because we have so many, who are in great shape and who have the motivation to do well in Tour de France,” he said. “But it is a luxury for us to have this problem, and I'm proud our team has reached a point where we have so many strong riders at such a high level.”

Team CSC for Tour de France (July 1-23)Ivan Basso (Ita)Carlos Sastre (Spa) Fränk Schleck (Lux) Jens Voigt (Ger) Giovanni Lombardi (Ita) Stuart O’Grady (Aus) Bobby Julich (USA) David Zabriskie (USA) Christian Vande Velde (USA)

Quick Step names Tour nine
World champion Tom Boonen headlines an experienced Quick Step-Innergetic team for the Tour de France marked by the absence of Olympic champion Paolo Bettini. Boonen will be one of the favorites for the green jersey in what should be an interesting battle between the likes of Robbie McEwen, Erik Zabel, Thor Hushovd and Oscar Freire. Milan-San Remo champ Filippo Pozzato, a winner of a Tour stage in 2004, will likely have some freedom to ride for a stage victory along with Juan Manuel Garate, who won a stage in this year’s Giro d’Italia. Also making his Tour debut with be climbing sensation José Rujano. The pint-sized Venezuelan abandoned the Giro d’Italia in the Alps without leaving much of an impression following a winter of contract disputes involving former team Selle Italia and Quick Step. Rujano, who won a stage and finished third overall last year in the Giro, agreed to race the Giro for Selle Italia and then join Quick Step on June 1. Rujano will try in the mountains to win a stage. Quick Step-Innergetic for TourTom Boonen (Bel)Wilfried Cretskens (Bel) Steven De Jongh (Ned) Juan Manuel Garate (Spa) Filippo Pozzato (Ita) Bram Tankink (Ned) Mateo Tosatto (Ita) José Rujano (Col) Cedric Vasseur (Fra)

Dekker in for TdF
Rising Dutch star Thomas Dekker will make his Tour de France debut alongside a deep Rabobank team that will ride in support of Denis Menchov and last year’s King of the Mountains Michael Rasmussen.

Dekker, 21, is hailed by many as new Dutch hope for future Tour success, but he’ll be in the support role this year as Menchov tries to get back to his best after a disappointing Tour last year.

The Russian - who was named winner of the 2005 Vuelta a España after Roberto Heras tested positive for EPO - won a stage atop Mont Ventoux in last month’s Dauphiné Libéré but crashed in the penultimate stage to fall out of contention.

Rasmussen will also have freedom to ride for the GC, but the former world mountain bike champion will likely look to shine in the mountains. Last year, Rasmussen tumbled off the podium after a disastrous final time trial that saw him slip to seventh overall.

Established Dutch stars Erik Dekker and Michael Boogerd will be aiming to grab a stage victory.

Also getting the nod is the Spanish tandem of Oscar Freire and Juan Antonio Flecha. Three-time world champion Freire will be in the hunt for sprints in the opening week and could be a contender for the green jersey if he’s resilient enough to arrive to Paris.

Rabobank for Tour de FranceOscar Freire (Spa) Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa) Denis Menchov (Rus) Michael Boogerd (Ned) Erik Dekker (Ned) Thomas Dekker (Ned) Joost Posthuma (Ned) Pieter Weening (Ned) Michael Rasmussen (Den)