May 28, 2008 (Saint-Georges, Beauce) – The Tour de Beauce is expecting 22 teams made up of a little more than 150 cyclists, at the starting line for its 23rd Edition, from June 10-15.

The organizers are more than satisfied with the teams selected as much by their number as by their quality, and anticipate that the caliber will be a notch higher than last year, while presenting a consistently strong pack made up of several teams able to win the race.

Canada is once again well-represented with 9 teams including two UCI Continental teams. The Symmetrics team will be back with Svein Tuft, second in the 2007 overall ranking. Team RACE Pro under the leadership of Steve Bauer will have veterans Mark Walters and the Quebec’s François Parisien. The Quebec Team will also be one to watch with the presence of Charles Dionne (Successful Living). Completing the Canadian delegation will be Volkswagen Trek, Garneau-Crocs, 2Peer.com, Trek Red Truck Racing and EVA-Devinci (Vallée de l’aluminium), who is lining up Dominique Perras this year.

Not to be outdone, the United States will be represented by four teams: Team Type 1 with 2006’s winner Kobzarenko and Slipstream-Chipotle’s David Zabriskie; also notable is the return to Beauce of Jittery Joe’s , and to complete the teams, Rocky Mountain.

Among the foreign teams are German Sparkasse, holder of the yellow jersey two days in 2006, the Mexican continental Tecos, with the winner of the 2007 polka dot jersey, the return of the Polish team Amore & Vita-McDonald’s , the Irish Pezula Racing, and Rapha Condor Recycling.co.uk from England. Cypriot A.Style Stomn and Konica Minolta from South Africa round out the European Continental field. Add to that the teams from Colombian National, the U-23 South African National as well as a French selection from Aix-en Provence.

For more info visit www.tourdebeauce.com