In the peloton since 1989

Sponsor: Spanish national lottery, run by the society for theblind
Budget: $4.2 million
Manager: Pablo Anton
Directeur sportif: Manolo Saiz
Assistants: Santiago Garcia, Sebastian Pozo, Marino Lejarreta

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Riders
AZEVEDO José    (P),  September 19, 1973
BELOKI Joseba    (Sp), August 12, 1973
GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO Alvaro (Sp), January 3, 1970
GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO Igor  (Sp), November 1, 1973
JAKSCHE Jorg (G)
NOZAL Isidro    (Sp), October 18, 1977
OLANO Abraham    (Sp), January 22, 1970
PRADERA Mikel    (Sp), March 6, 1975
SERRANO Marcos    (Sp), September 8, 1972

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Building up
ONCE is not what it used to be. Its omnipresent directeur sportif,Manolo Saiz, has not rebuilt his squad to the level of two years ago. Doingthis will take time. The Spanish team certainly had its fair share of successesat the 2001 Tour, since Joseba Beloki was again third overall. So we willfind the crafty Beloki at the start in Luxembourg, with ambitions at leastas great as those of last year, and he’ll be well supported by his vigilantlieutenant Marcos Serrano. Though Abraham Olano is not the man he oncewas, he still dreams of victories, just like the young Italian rookie GiampaoloCaruso, who was second in the world under-23 championship last year..TEAM WINS2001
I. GONZALEZ DE GALDEANO: Vuelta a  España, one stage;Tour of Asturias, one stage; GP dos Mosqueterios, overall and one stage;GP Telecom, overall and one stage.
AZEVEDO: Tour of the Algarve, one stage.
ZARRABEITIA: Bicicleta Vasca, one stage.
BELOKI: Tour of Catalonia, overall and two stages.
SERRANO: Tour of Castilla & Leon.2002
HRUSKA: Tour of Algarve, one stage.
ANDRLE: Tour of Murcia, one stage.INTERVIEW
Manolo Saiz, directeur sportif:
“Beloki’s third-place finish last year gave us wings, and we want toeither do better or be back on the podium. Beloki will be well supportedagain by Serrano, ninth last year. Certainly, we have had to lower severalobjectives, but the other teams will have to worry about us. Olano, inspite of long years behind him, can still hold his own against the bestin a time trial. Armstrong may again dominate the Tour, but one thing isfor sure: we won’t be in the Tour to play a token role. This might surprisemore than one person, for, though some think we’ll have to wait for thePyrénées and the Alps for that, the Tour can be played outearlier. Everyone remembers the Passage du Gois in 1999. The Tour de Francealways keeps its store of surprises, the important thing being to be inthe right group at the right moment. We will be very vigilant.”