Exciting indeed, although Cooke's description of the squad as "the strongest international team" is probably a touch more hyperbole than reality (although in terms of a GC squad they are fairly close to Columbia, albeit still well behind Cervélo).
So the question for me is, given that at the moment the Boucle isn't on the UCI calendar, and in any case Nürnberger haven't ridden it since 2003... will she ride the Giro? Imagine a Cooke-Neben two pronged attack for Skyter with Worrack at their side, against the Häusler-Pooley-Soeder-Ryan Cervélo machine counting on Düster, Armitstead and Laws, with Columbia having the choices of Arndt and Abbott backed up by Villumsen and Keller with Stevens as their wildcard...
...and those other teams, too.
I think Cooke could really use another Giro win to cement her place as one of the great stage-race riders, since her Boucle wins, though very impressive, were in fairly short races against talented but depleted fields. The Giro should be what it's all about.
