Bontrager Pro Cycling Team: New Year, New Name, Same Resolve

The Bontrager Pro Cycling Team recently launched for the 2013 season and with it introduced their new line up of young riders. This team is aimed at developing talented young riders into professionals ready for the World Tour stage, and has a proven record of doing just that.

The team had a dramatic launch recently, taking part in the second 'Hullabaloo in Waterloo' at Trek's head office, matching up against Bontrager staff in head to head roller racing sprints, with Jasper Stuyven emerging victorious. Check the gallery on VeloNews.com to see how it unfolded.

You can also get an insite into the preparations that go into a season of racing with this VeloNews.com gallery of the teams HQ in Boulder, Colorado.

To learn more about the team and it's riders, check their website, bontragercyclingteam.com or you can follow them on Twitter and Facebook.

The team will be riding the Trek Madone or Domane, and using a full complement of Bontrager accessories, including saddles, bars, wheels, tyres and shoes.

Wet weather getting you down?

Well, a lot has happened in the last 2 weeks, so today will be an attempt to catch up on it all. This way you'll have heaps of reading to do and videos to watch over the weekend while it's raining outside. Well, if you are in Sydney at least. For those of you living where it isn't raining, lucky you! And I hope you make the most of it! :-)

First up, when I last updated, the Giro D'Italia and the Tour of California were both underway. Both races saw exciting racing right up until the final stage, with the top 5 riders not giving in and attacking right up until the end. Great stuff to see! In the end, Ivan Basso took the win in the Giro, despite the best efforts of Cadel Evans, and Aussie Mick Rogers took the win in California, denying Team RadioShack rider Levi Leipheimer his 4th consecutive victory, despite his best efforts.




Photo courtesy of VeloNews.com

Despite Basso winning the overall, it was great to see all the other jersey's in the Giro won by Aussies! Cadel took the red points jersey, Matt Lloyd the green climbers jersey and Riche Porte, the young sensation of the race, the white U23 jersey. An excellent race for Australia.

Meanwhile, the build up to the Tour de France is building. Although the exact make up of Lance Armstrong's preparation for the Tour was still undecided recently, he is now competing in the Tour de Luxembourg, finishing in 5th in the very short opening prologue, and currently sitting in 3rd place overall after the first stage. Fellow Team RadioShack riders Gregory Rast and Andreas Kloden are also in the top 10.

The other Trek sponsored road team, Trek-Livestrong U23, also had a win recently with Taylor Phinney winning the U23 Paris-Roubaix for the second year in a row. This is a great result and confirms the talent this young rider has. You can see a video from the race here.

Although denying rumors that he will get called up to Team RadioShack early, no doubt there is a bright future ahead for him.

Photo courtesy CyclingNews.com

That's it for now. I'll have more stories from the world of Trek soon.

Stage One Down Under

By now the second day of racing will be underway at the Tour Down Under, but the first day provided some great racing while showcasing the beautiful surrounds of South Australia’s wine growing regions.

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

The main breakaway of the day included 20 year old Tim Roe, a member of the Trek-Livestrong U23 team who is from Glenelg, just outside of Adelaide. While the rest of the Livestrong U23 team is at a camp in Califormia, Tim stayed with the breakaway while they opened up a gap of close to 10 mins, and then dropped his fellow breakaway riders going up the major climb of the day, Menglers Hill. Despite a short off-road excursion on the descent, he managed to hold on a little longer until the peloton caught up as the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint finish. Tim’s riding was following UniSA team orders to be aggressive and earned him the King of the Mountains jersey and the most aggressive rider jersey, a great achievement for him.

 

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

Once the race got to the finish town of Tanunda the pace quickened in preparation for the sprint. Team Radioshack was up near the front of the field to lead out Gert Steegmans. In the frenetic finish Gert got himself up for a fantastic 2nd place, behind stage winner Andre Greipel. This has got to be the first time a member of Lance’s team has been so closely contesting a sprint! Great to see Gert up at the front and we’re looking forward to Team RadioShack pushing for a stage win in the next few days. You can read more reports from PezCyclingNews and CyclingNews.

 

Photo Courtesy CyclingNews.com

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Trek Bicycle Corporation is helping to grow the sport of cycling in it’s home state of Wisconsin. Bike Radar recently did a short article on the bicycle manufacturers support of cycling through working closely with advocacy groups and government officials. The fact that Trek has a full time “director of advocacy and government affairs” goes to show how much they are committed to helping more people enjoy cycling, whether competitively or purely for transport and recreation. Great to see from such a large bike company, but probably easier to believe as it is still a family owned business rather than a public company.