Cycling: Dean racing to make Tour de France

Top New Zealand road cyclist Julian Dean, on the comeback trail from injury, is in a battle against time to line up for July's Tour de France.

Dean, ninth at last September's world championships road race in Spain, missed the 2005 Tour de France after breaking his right elbow in a crash during the Tour of Italy.

The 30-year-old rider for the French-based Credit Agricole team had his last competitive ride this year in Belgium in early April.

He has spent the past six weeks rehabilitating from tendonitis in the knee which has forced him to miss three big races -- the Paris-Roubaix, and the tours of Romandie and Italy.

"Probably a lot of you are wondering about the Tour -- well, I'm not really sure at the moment if I'm going to be back in time," said Dean on his website diary today.

"The first objective is to get through the Tour of Luxembourg and then try and prove to the team that I'm good enough in the Tour of Switzerland."

The five-day Luxembourg tour begins on June 1 (NZ time) and the Tour of Switzerland from June 10-18. The Tour de France starts on July 1.

The Credit Agricole team have 27 riders on their roster, with their No 1 rider Norwegian strongman Thor Hushovd.

"So for now, it's one step at a time and the next step is to make the start line at the Tour of Luxembourg with no problems."

Now based in Spain, Dean, formerly of Rotorua, said he was finally getting back on top of things again.

"It has been another extremely difficult period. I have lost over a month of training ... I think that I've finally broken out of it (the injury cycle) and am now close to returning to proper training."

He had made substantial progress both physically and mentally and had just been able to ride for more than six hours for the first time in six weeks.

It has been another frustrating year for Dean, whose exploits with Credit Agricole in the 2004 Tour de France had him labelled as the "best leadout rider on the planet".

The eighth New Zealander to ride the Tour, Dean finished 127th after helping Hoshovd win two stages and wear the coveted yellow jersey for one day.

In January, Dean was felled during the Wellington-Wairarapa Classic road race and had to undergo surgery to remove his gall bladder and appendix.

BikeNZ high performance manager Michael Flynn said he was not aware at the moment of any other New Zealand rider due to line up for this year's Tour de France.

- NZPA