Tour of Romandie beefs up

Spanish rider Alejandro Valverde is relishing competing in the Tour de Romandie, with its blend of steep climbs, hills and a time trial that usually reward an all-rounder.

Valverde joined Italian Filippo Pozzatto - second in last month's Paris-Roubaix - and Swiss time-trial specialist Fabien Cancellara among the latecomers for the six-day event from Lausanne to Geneva.

"Instead of taking part in the Tour of Catalunya (Spain), I'll be in the Tour de Romandie and will take advantage of the fact that I'm approaching my best form," Valverde said on Sunday after he finished 19th in Liege-Bastogne-Liege. "The Swiss race is a very nice event that I've always liked."

The trio have helped bolster the race after it lost out on the promise of Lance Armstrong - who had the Romandie in sight as preparation for his return to the Tour de France before he broke his collarbone - and 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre.

The western Swiss event has traditionally combined talent-spotting potential with a test of form just ahead of the two big races in Italy and France.

British 23-year-old Mark Cavendish took the Romandie prologue a year ago, just a couple of months before he seized the limelight with four sprint wins on the Tour de France.

In the absence of last year's winner Andreas Kloeden, 2007 winner Thomas Dekker is also in the line-up as well as his predecessor Cadel Evans.

They join about 160 riders from 20 teams over the 660 kilometre course through western Switzerland, which starts with a short prologue through the streets of the city of Lausanne.

The following day the peloton immediately tackles the biggest climbs in the pre-Alps and the 1,508-metre Jaunpass on their way from lakeside Montreux up to Fribourg.

Stage two takes the race into the Jura hills of north-western Switzerland, followed by a team time trial on flat land in stage three at Yverdon, before heading back into the Jura hills and then down to the finish in Geneva next Sunday.