Introduction:
Vacansoleil are a small team, perhaps the smallest of the World Tour, and will be competing in the World Tour for the first time this year, 2011. A Dutch Registered squad, the team focuses primarily on the smaller goals of races, the KOM Jersey/Points, Breakaways, and some sprint finished.

Without a pure climber to lead them, there quest for Overall Victories are all but over before they arrive at the start line. However, when the road does pitch up, expect Wout Poels and Matteo Carrara to carry the teams hopes and wait for one of the favourite's to faulter.

For the flatter, more punchy routes, Bjorn Leukemans expects to feature near the front. Although wins aren't really possible against the likes of Gilbert, Rodriguez and co. Top-10's are still expected.

Leukemans is also the team's Cobbles leader and despite being extremely talented, you still need luck to win on the cobbles, something that seems to have deserted out team. Stijn Devolder, our only other (non-breakaway) cobbles hope, is a rocket over the Cobbles, but alas, has had no luck either since his consecutive wins at De Ronde in '08 and '09. These 2 will have support from Andreas Klier and Nikki Terpstra

Aside from the 'lottery' prizes of races, the most likely place to see a Vacansoleil rider raising his hands in a victory salute is in sprints, most notably, one after a slightly hilly parcours, where Romain Feillu has the kick to be with the best in the world, and can climb hills just that little bit better, and generally comes to the line with enough left in the legs. Borut Bozic is a little behind Feillu in both speed and climbing ability, but still expect him to feature in many a sprint. Pim Ligthart also likes a sprint, and has a very handy kick from a small bunch kick.

When the team needs to show their strength in Team Time Trial's Thomas De Gendt and Jens Mouris will guide the team across the line and (hopefully) onto victory.

Country	Race	Importance	Goal
	Amstel Gold Race	Extremely High Priority	Top - 3
/	Eneco Tour	Extremely High Priority	Win
	Tour de France	High Priority	Top - 10 GC
	De Ronde Van Vlaanderen	High Priority	Top - 5
	Giro D'Italia	Medium Priority	Stage Wins
	Liege - Bastogne - Liege	Medium Priority	Top - 10
	Vuelta a Espana	Low Priority	Stage Wins
	Tour Down Under	Low Priority	Top - 3, Stage
	La Fleche Wallone	Very Low Priority	Top - 5
	Gent - Wevelgem	Very Low Priority	Top - 10

Country	Name	Team Status
	Santo Anza	Luxury Team Mate
	Maxim Belkov	Team Mate
	Borut Bozic	Protected Rider
	Matteo Carrara	Protected Rider
	Cyril Dessel	Luxury Team Mate
	Thomas De Gendt	Protected Rider
	Stijn Devolder	Protected Rider
	Romain Feillu	Absolute Leader
	Gorik Gardeyn	Team Mate
	Michael Golas	Team Mate
	Martijn Keizer	Young Rider
	Andreas Klier	Luxury Team Mate
	Yuriy Krivtsof	Team Mate
	Bjorn Leukemans	Absolute Leader
	Pim Ligthart	Luxury Team Mate
	Jens Mouris	Team Mate
	Marcello Pavarin	Team Mate
	Thomas Peterson	Team Mate
	Ruslan Pidgornyy	Protected Rider
	Wout Poels	Absolute Leader
	Mirko Selvaggi	Team Mate
	Peter Stetina	Team Mate
	Nikki Terpstra	Luxury Team Mate
	Joost Van Leijen	Luxury Team Mate
	Frederick Veuchlen	Team Mate
	Johnny Hoogerland	Protected Rider
	Sergey Lagutin	Luxury Team Mate
	Marco Marcato	Luxury Team Mate
	Wouter Mol	Team Mate
	Alberto Ongarato	Luxury Team Mate
	Rob Ruijgh	Team Mate
	Lieuwe Westra	Luxury Team Mate

With all the squads named for the Tour Down Under, the World Tour is about to get underway. Vacansoleil's hopes of success lie on the shoulders of Romain Feillu in the sprints, Bjorn Leukemans if it turns to a race for the stronger riders, and Stijn Devolder to pick up any scraps that may be left.

Vacansoleil's team has been announced for the Tour Down Under. The season opener is generally a sprinters race, however the hills on the 3rd stage can break things up if the race is hard. With Feillu for the sprints, and Leukemans and Devolder there to pick up any pieces in the GC, the team looks quite prepared to have a good crack at Stages, and the final overall.

The team's goal here is to gain a podium finish on a stage.