British sprint great Mark Cavendish will spearhead Belgian team Omega Pharma's hopes for stage wins in the upcoming Tour de France after they announced their team line-up on Monday for the race that begins on June 29. Cavendish, who has won 23 stages in the Tour since 2008, will rely on his faithful lieutenant Gert Steegmans to set him up for stage victories in the three week race. The team's target for the 28-year-old Isle of Man born Cavendish is a big one from the outset.

Jan Ullrich, the only German winner of the Tour de France, said in an interview published on Wednesday that he was not surprised at Lance Armstrong's downfall because he "made too many enemies". "Normally I don't wish bad things on people, including Armstrong," the rider, who was himself convicted of doping violations last February and stripped of his career results back to 2005, was quoted as saying by Sport-Bild. "But I've always said that Lance wouldn't get out of it. He made too many enemies," the controversial winner of the 1997 Tour added.

Spain's 2008 Olympic road race champion Samuel Sanchez won the seventh and penultimate stage of the Criterium du Dauphine on Saturday, the 187.5km ride from Pont-de-Claix to Superdevoluy and dedicated it to two friends who died in the past year. The 35-year-old veteran's stage win didn't affect the overall lead as British rider Chris Froome retained the yellow jersey and will look on Sunday to collect another major win this season and bolster his chances of winning the major prize, the Tour de France in July.

Levi Leipheimer, teamless since last fall after admitting to doping, has retired from professional cycling, a US newspaper reported. The American was fired by Omega Pharma in October following his admission during an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency into shamed compatriot Lance Armstrong. "I'm retired," he told The Press Democrat on Sunday on the sidelines of the final stage of the Amgen Tour of California. "It's just been an unceremoniously retired," Leipheimer said. "I sort of miss racing. I still love riding my bike."