Tag: Garmin-Cervélo

Categories
Featured News

Re-brand for Slipstream

Owned and managed by Slipstream Sports, Team Garmin-Cervélo, has announced that it will become Team Garmin-Barracuda with the addition of new sponsor Barracuda Networks, a global provider of content security and data protection. Commenting on the sponsorship announcement Michael Perone, executive vice president and CMO of Barracuda, said: ‘The incredible sense of teamwork, passion and determination, and commitment to innovation, align perfectly with our philosophy on delivering the most innovative solutions and support to our customers. This partnership provides a fantastic platform to share that message with millions of people around the world in a unique and meaningful way.’

 

Director Sportif of the newly rechristened Team Garmin-Barracuda, Jonathan Vaughters, added: ‘We are always looking for partners who, like Garmin, share our passion and commitment to the best innovations in technology, and Barracuda Networks is a perfect fit…The partnership with Barracuda Networks is long-term and the company will also allow Slipstream Sports to continue to pursue other co-title sponsor opportunities.’

 

In line with the name change, the team has also revealed the new 2012 jersey (which continues to be supplied by tech clothing leaders Castelli). It will be worn for the first time in action by the squad at the Santos Tour Down Under which begins January 15, fans will be able to get their hands on replicas in February.

 

Categories
News

Journey to a Dream

What happens you mix up an award winning, British film-maker with over 300 music videos (including Champaign Supernova, Welcome to the Jungle and Baby One More Tim) and 25 documentaries to his credit with headline grabbing pro team Garmin-Cervélo? The result is Journey to a Dream directed by Nigel Dick and created for the team presentation in Boulder, Colorado on November 17 – now it’s available for all to see. Presented by Clif Bar, the 13minute documentary follows the hopes and aspirations that all young riders have and examines Slipstream Sport’s approach to ethical racing and to developing the next generation of world-beating cyclists.

 

For more information on Nigel Dick’s work visit www.nigeldick.com but for Now sit back and be inspired…

 

 

Categories
News

BigMat’s Big Switch

If reports in the Dutch magazine Wieler Revue are true then the future of British riders such as Lizzie Armitstead, Emma Pooley, Lucy Martin and Sharon Laws with Team Garmin-Cervélo could be in jeopardy with less than 9 months to go before the 2012 Olympics. According to the magazine the French firm BigMat were to have supported Garmin-Cervélo as a second tier sponsor but have now switched their wagons to join FDJ, the French cycling outfit, named for its title sponsor, the French national lottery. Whilst BigMat’s decision to back FDJ has seen their WorldTour licence returned for the 2012 season, the shortfall left at Garmin puts the future of their women’s team in doubt. The potentially dire news comes just weeks after former World Champion Emma Pooley publicly criticised the ongoing lack of a women’s team at Sky.

 

Categories
News

Alex Rasmussen: Dope

Alex RasmussenFour-time track cycling world champion Alex Rasmussen has been unceremoniously dumped by his HTC-Highroad team for failing to attend a doping test. The 27-year-old Dane, who was a member of Team Saxo-SunGard in 2009 and 10, has had his licence suspended by the Danish Cycling Union and will now miss the upcoming road world championships in Copenhagen (September 19-25), where he was due to compete in the time trial.

 

HTC, currently riding high in the Tour of Britain having taken a one, two with riders Mark Renshaw and Mark Cavendish on Stage Five, dismissed Rasmussen as soon as the missed dope test became apparent. Team manager Rolf Aldag commented: “These are clear violations of the team’s code of conduct. We act on these violations immediately.” An official statement further confirmed: “Upon notification of a missed test, Alex Nikki Rasmussen’s contract with HTC-Highroad has been terminated with immediate effect for breach of the team’s code of conduct. The UCI, NOC and Sports Confederation of Denmark notified the team today that a missed test occurred and has been verified by a UCI review. The team was also notified that Rasmussen had two missed tests in 2010 prior to joining HTC-Highroad that had not been previously reported to the team.”

 

However the bad news doesn’t end there for Rasmussen. With the effective disbanding of HTC at the end of the current season due to lack of headline sponsor he was due to join Team Garmin-Cervelo for 2012, but with Garmin having built their reputation on a strong anti-doping stance they too have decided that Rasmussen is no longer for them.

 

Categories
News

First for Armitstead

This year’s Women’s British National Road Race title has been comfortably won by Lizzie Armitstead of Garmin-Cervelo in a time of 2:48:40 over the 64mile course in Stamfordham, Northumberland. The 22 year old from Otley who had finished runner-up in both 2009 and 2010 (and is an alumni of the Great Britain’s Olympic Academy) sprinted home ahead of 10-time champion Nicole Cooke of Mcipollini-Giambenini to take her first National Championship win. Sharon Laws – also of Garmin-Cervelo – took third place on +4.

 

Very much seen as a riding star of the sport, Armitstead’s 2011 season had not started well with a string of injuries and illnesses – but following yesterday’s success (June 26), the clearly relieved rider commented: “Finally, thank God. I’ve been getting too many silvers…”

 

Categories
News

Tour of Cali-Horner

Despite an event initially beset by meteorological turmoil – with the cancellation of the Lake Tahoe first stage and delay and alteration to the start of Stage 2 due to unprecedented freezing weather – the 2011 Amgen Tour of California has provided 8 blistering days of competition. Yesterday (May 22) whilst Matthew Goss (HTC-Highroad) took the final stage, it was Chris Horner of Team RadioShack who finished with an overall time of 23:46:41 to take the leader’s jersey and confirm his place at the top of the podium. At the grand old age of 39 Horner becomes the oldest rider to win the event in its six year history. Meanwhile Team Garmin-Cervelo took the overall Team Competition for the second year in a row, helped by Thomas Danielson’s final stage third place achievement.

 

For full results and analysis see: www.amgentourofcalifornia.com

 

Categories
News

Van Summeren First (But Cancellara Top)

Van SummerenThis year’s 258km Paris-Roubaix was almost entirely defined by its crashes and mishaps. Belgian’s Tom Boonen (Quick Step’s Team leader) endured a puncture during the Arenberg Forest section before finally crashing out, whilst Bjorn Leukemans (Vacansoleil), Roger Hammond (Garmin-Cervelo), Sylvain Chavanel (Quick Step) and Filippo Pozzato (Katusha) were amongst others that went the same way. In the end though Garmin-Cervélo’s Johan Van Summeren took first in 6:07:28 for the biggest win of his career to date, with Fabian Cancellara in second for Leopard Trek and Maarten Tjallingii (Rabobank) third. Those looking at technical innovations may have noted that Van Summeren was resplendent in the new SpeedSuit (which has been called “possibly the fastest bit of clothing ever created for road racing”) which was trialled by Garmin-Cervelo at the Milan-San Remo in March.

 

Some comfort though for Cancellara; despite yesterday’s second place (and missing out at both Milan-San Remo and Tour of Flanders) he has moved into the top spot of the Union Cycliste Internationale’s latest WorldTour ranking with 236 points. The new UCI rankings now look like this:

 

Rider
1 – Fabian Cancellara (Leopard Trek) 236 points
2 – Matt Goss (HTC-Highroad) 203 points
3 – Andreas Kloden (RadioShack) 202 points
Nation
1 – Italy 525 points
2 – Australia 517 points
3 – Belgium 466 points
Team
1 – RadioShack 465 points
2 – HTC-Highroad 453 points
3 – Rabobank 392 points

 

Image © Garmin-Cervelo

 

Categories
News

An F1 Approach to Cycling?

A major revamp and rebranding of international cycling has, somewhat controversially, been proposed to the BBC by Jonathan Vaughters the former pro racing cyclist and current directeur sportif of the Garmin-Cervélo Team. Vaughters, who is president of the Association of Pro Tour and Pro Continental teams believes that, given cycling’s demographic, the sport should enjoy far greater exposure and success than its current form allows, suggesting it should be brought more in line with Premier Football or Formula One.

 

Vaughters’ ten-point plan revealed to the BBC includes the introduction of more high-level events outside of Europe, a more consistent and easily understood format for races and leader-boards, an increased number of team time trials, open radio communications for fans to follow (similar to that introduced in F1), GPS tracking and increased use of other technical innovations such as helmet-mounted cameras.

 

But central to Vaughters’ argument is a call for an all-round cleanup of the sport’s image with regards to the seemingly ever-present doping scandals, which he calls cycling’s “Achilles heel”. Amongst his proposals to finally lay these ghosts to rest is the idea of team donations to set up an anti-drugs fund in exchange for longer-term guarantees of Tour de France entry. Vaughters points out that he first put many of these ideas forward to the UCI back in 2009 but has yet to receive a response. Cyclo waits with bated breath…