Eddy Merckx and Eddy Leppens defend the title

SAINT BREVIN - The Belgian team with Eddy Merckx and Leppens defends the title in the European championship for national teams, that will be played in Saint Brevin, France, from 3 until November 6. The tournament is played with twenty teams.

Besides the title holders, there will be lots of competitors at the start. The Turks Lütfi Cenet and Tayfun Tasdemir won the World championship for teams this year in the finals against Merckx and Leppens. The Spanish team with Dani Sánchez and Ruben Legazpi, the Belgian B-team with Frédéric Caudron and Peter de Backer, the Dutch team with Dick Jaspers and Raimond Burgman, the French team with Jérémy Bury and Jérôme Barbeillon, the Germans with Martin Horn and Christian Rudolph should not be underestimated.

Michael Nilsson performs the Swedish team in Saint Brevin, because Torbjörn Blomdahl will not play. Second man of the team is David Pennör. The Greeks will not send a team and Marco Zanetti does not play for Italy, where Emilio Sciacca's is the team captain,

The European championship will be played for the tenth time. The most successful was the Swedish team, that won the title with father and son Lennart and Torbjörn Blomdahl in 1985 (Copenhagen), 1987 (Barcelona) and 1991 (Rezé).

The tournament in Saint Brevin starts on Thursday, November 3 at 10:30 with the official opening. The first matches are at 11.00 between Croatia and Montenegro and Czech Republic and Finland.
The teams that will participate are:
Belgium A: Eddy Merckx, Eddy Leppens.
Belgium B: Frédéric Caudron, Peter de Backer.
Turkey: Lütfi Cenet, Tayfun Tasdemir.
Netherlands: Dick Jaspers, Raimond Burgman.
Spain: Dani Sánchez, Ruben Legazpi.
Germany: Martin Horn, Christian Rudolph.
Czech Republic: Ivo Gazdos, Martin Bohac.
Egypt: Sameh Sidhom, Ihab El Messery.
Switzerland: Rene Hendriksen, Torsten Danielsson.
France A: Jérémy Bury, Jérôme Barbeillon.
France B: Pierre Soumagne, Cédric Melnytschenko.
Italy: Emilio Sciacca, Francesco Orlando.
Montenegro: Danilo Brajovic, Vuk Brajovic.
Sweden: Michael Nilsson, David Pennör.
Luxembourg: Ramon Hamm, Bryan Temperlers.
Portugal: Manuel Rui Costa, Joao Pedro Ferreira.
Koratië: Slobodan Soro, Nadir Paulovic.
Finland: Jussi Tyrkkö, Johannes Kauhanen.
Denmark: Thomas Andersen, Lars Dunch.
Austria: Andreas Efler, Herbert Szivach.