Cycling: Omega Pharma-Quick Step to focus on Mark Cavendish at Tour de France

The Belgian cycling team will target stage wins and the green jersey for Cavendish at this year's Tour, while young Polish rider Michal Kwiatkowski will be Omega Pharma-Quick Step's main contender for the general classification.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step named their preliminary 13-man roster on Monday and will cut it down to nine after the Tour de Suisse finishes on June 22.

Uran, who finished second at the Giro d'Italia, will be given a rest next month, while Boonen looks set to miss his third Tour de France in a row, despite six stage wins in his career at the world's premier cycling race and a green jersey triumph in 2007, after being named as a reserve.

Instead, Omega Pharma-Quick Step will put their support behind British sprinter Cavendish, who has nine stage victories to his name this year.

"We want to see how things will be there first and be sure everybody is healthy and ready for the competition," the team's development manager Rolf Aldag said in a statement.

"All 13 names are important. Those guys showed to the team great commitment whether they will be in the final selection of nine or not. They are all ready and fit for the race.

"We appreciate the availability also of a guy like Tom Boonen. He's the only one who knows already he will be one of the reserves. He shows again that he is a great professional and he really cares about this team. We know we can count on him if we need him at the very last moment.

"For the rest, everybody knows our main objectives will be the stage wins with Cavendish and a new experience in the Tour with Kwiatkowski to make another improvement, a new step in his career.

"We will build our team around those two guys to be a competitive and strong team in order to try and reach our goals."

Kwiatkowski finished 11th at last year's Tour de France in his maiden appearance, while he also held the young rider's white jersey for 10 stages.

The 24-year-old Pole won the overall title at the Volta ao Algarve in Portugal in February, while he has also claimed second at the Tour of the Basque Country this year, plus third at two one-day classics; La Fleche Wallonne and Liege-Bastogne-Liege.