GRAND RAPIDS, MI., – BISSELL Pro Cycling (BPC) has finalized its eight-man Amgen Tour of California roster. While team leader Ben Jacques-Maynes and Tom Zirbel were ascertained spots in early January, the 14-member squad weathered Northern California winter storms during their Santa Rosa, California-based two-week team training camp, scouting several key stages of the ATOC to determine the final roster.

Joining 2007 NRC number two ranked Jacques-Maynes and time trail specialist Zirbel are Aaron Olson and Burke Swindlehurst. Stage race specialist Olson makes his third ATOC appearance after two years in the European pro peloton bringing experience from the mountainous 2007 Giro d’Italia and a third place overall at the Tour of Ireland. Ten-year pro and underrated climbing and stage specialist Swindlehurst makes his ATOC debut and will be looking toward the mountains to make his mark.

Battling with the bunch at likely sprint finishes in Santa Rosa (Stage 1), Sacramento (Stage 2) and Pasadena (Stage 7) will be 2006 Australian Criterium Champion Richard England. Supporting England’s lead-out train and also making his third ATOC appearance is Scott Zwinanski. Recently relocated to Marin County, Califorina, Zwinanski has spent the off-season training on the Tour’s routes and comes fresh off a Stage 7 Tour of Southland victory.

Rounding out the roster are strong all-rounders Garrett Peltonen and Teddy King. Peltonen was the winner of the 2007 Tour of Leelanau while King was crowned Best Young Rider at the 2006 Univest Grand Prix.

“While selection is always a tough process, the depth and determination of this squad made that process all the more difficult,” said Bissell’s Pro Cycling Director Sportiff Glen Mitchell. “We have a unique and talented group that work incredibly well together who are all able to contribute to a race of this caliber, but we have some specific riders whose peak form is targeted down the road.”

Added team manager Mark Olson, “The most consistent message I heard during team training camp came from the sponsors. All left camp saying the exact same thing, that ‘there’s a special vibe and sense of unity on this team.’” He added, “That unity carries over in race situations. There will always be competition when vying for a roster spot, but despite that, these guys seem to work cohesively and naturally for an end goal, to deliver results for the team and its sponsors.”

In the first part of our conversation with Toyota-United rider Dominique Rollin, we talked about his racing start in Quebec, Canada and his years, sometimes difficult, of living and racing in Europe.

Looking back on 2007

At the end of 2006, Dominique Rollin made the decision to return to North American and signed with the American Pro team Kodak-Galley and returned to raced in North American circuit for the 2007 season. “I wanted to reduce my travels, stay closer to home.”

The year started off strong for Rollin with his new team with back-to-back victories in Jacksonville and NRC wins at Roswell and Walterboro. The team was still learning to work together and Rollin felt that there were some coordination problems. “You get to know each other, you come from the amateur level so you don’t really know what to do, a little more energy in the management can bring about a team that works well…. it’s like all teams.”

Rollin estimates that it takes from six to eight months for a team to get to know each other to work well together which was demonstrated by the team results at the end of the year. “We showed it in Ireland, there was 5 of us and we managed to control the race. In Missouri, the guys did a great job. There is always an adaptation time with any team.”

Rollin unsuccessfully tried to defend his jersey at the 2007 Canadian National Championship in the road race which had a much smaller field than usual as it was held on a weekday. “This year there were only around fifty riders which makes a much tighter peloton. I found myself isolated with all the Quebecois watching me because I was the defending champion. It’s always more pressure when you’re the defending champion.”

Rollin represented Canada in the World Championship road race in Stuttgart, Germany in September but had to pull out of the race when he cracked. “I didn’t bring my own nutrition to the World Championship because my team didn’t have any so I took whatever the National Team had, and it was different than what I’m used to. So I didn’t eat enough and with two laps to go, I find myself dehydrated, with a headache and I bonked. I think I could have done at least one more lap if I had eaten correctly, I was able to follow the field, but…”

Looking forwards to this season

In September 2007, the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team announced that it was stopping operations, but even Rollin was already looking to go elsewhere. “There was Symmetrics that had been sending me a few offers, they’ve been after me for two years but looking at the organizational structure, I preferred to go with Toyota.”

Toyota-United has not contacted Rollin because “they thought I was comfortable at Kodak so they didn’t approach me. But knowing that I was free, they absolutely wanted me on the team. So far I’ve received only compliments, I’m happy.”

Rollin sees himself as a domestique, as first and foremost he wants to help the team win races and where possible carve a place for himself. “I can bring 2 or 3 horses more to help Ivan (Dominguez) get a win or I think Hilton Clarke who is also new, a good sprinter.”

“I arrive in a well-tuned structure, it’s completely different than last year with Kodak where I didn’t know what to expect. Toyota is known for its leaders, it’s a strong team.”

Rollin joined his teammates for a two-week training camp in Solvang California, and he expects the integration into the new team to be easy. “The guys are pretty open. I think I might have a bit more difficulty than the three Australians because they all knew each other, I’m a bit less known because I was new to the circuit last year but I don’t think I’ll have any problems. I get along with the guys, it’s going to be fine.”

“You have 2 weeks of training camp to learn how to ride together and I think it’s going to be fine because the majority of the team is the same and they have been working together for 2 or 3 years.”

Rollin’s schedule was not set when we met, but two races are already in his calendar, the Amgen Tour of California in February, for which he has been training for the past two months.

Staying in California until the end of April will maximize his training period for the year, as he learned the hard way the previous year. “Last year, I made the mistake, my team insisted that I return home. Before Redlands, I was stuck in a snowstorm. I returned to Redlands, with jetlag, and one week of rollers, well it didn’t work well.”

The Canadian Championships are on the calendar in early July, as Rollin would like to wear the Maple Leaf once more. Rollin is focused on the Olympic Games as he has been named in the selection pool. “I think that we are still 17 in the selection pool which is huge, especially since about half can’t race past 200 km in that group. It’s completely different,”

Rollin hopes that the selection for the Olympics will be made as late as possible, in May or June, as he typically has good form during that period. “They make their selection closer to the Olympics, races like Philly, races somewhat similar (to the Olympic course), where all the Canadians are present is a good race to make the choice.”

Rollin loves the hard one-day races but is starting to appreciate the stage races, as he discovered in the previous year. “I was a bit dreading stage races because I cracked on the last day, or it was very difficult. My reference has always been Tour de Beauce, and it’s always been until this year somewhat of a failure for me.” laughed Rollin.

Working with his coach Brian Walton on his endurance helped Rollin gain a certain maturity, and it payed off. “In the Tour of Ireland I was getting stronger every day. I think I was the only rider getting stronger every day.”

No decisions have been made about returning to Europe in the future, and no decisions will be taken until the year with Toyota unfolds. “The American circuit is getting to be more and more interesting with the addition of Tour of Missouri, the return of Tour of Utah, Tour of Colorado new in 2008.”

Rollin loves to cook, a skill he refined while living in France, and when I asked him if there would be a competition with Toyota-United’s Ivan Stevic who also loves to cook, his answer was “Bring it on”.

“Bring it on” summarizes Rollin approach to this year, as he tackles the domestic circuit with the experience garnered on roads over Europe and North America.

Boulder, CO —Bikes Belong just awarded six grants to grassroots groups in Colorado, Georgia, Ohio, Oklahoma, Texas, and Washington to help build new bike paths and trails. Great facilities like these enable and encourage people to ride their bikes more often and make communities safer, healthier, and more enjoyable places to live.

Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association (GHORBA)—Double Lake Recreation Area Trail Expansion
The Greater Houston Off-Road Biking Association (GHORBA) will receive $10,000 to help expand the mountain bike trail system at Double Lake Recreation Area, one hour north of Houston, Texas. The grant will enable GHORBA, an all-volunteer group, to speed trail construction by hiring professional trail builders, helping to meet the increasing demand for mountain bike trails in the area. Bikes Belong’s funding will serve as a match for a Recreational Trails Program grant.
More about GHORBA. . .

Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association, Woodstock Chapter (SORBA Woodstock)—Blankets Creek Trail Expansion
The Woodstock, Georgia, chapter of the Southern Off-Road Bicycle Association (SORBA) will use their $10,000 grant to expand the popular mountain bike trail system at Blankets Creek. Plans include extending the beginner loop and creating an advanced loop with technical terrain. SORBA has more than 2,200 members and a great deal of community support. They’ve garnered significant funding for the trail project from individuals and local businesses, and they have tremendous support from many bike shops in northern Georgia.
More about SORBA Woodstock. . .

Whatcom Council of Governments—Coast Millennium Trail Link
The Whatcom Council of Governments, in Bellingham, Washington, will receive a $10,000 grant to help build a key link in the Coast Millennium Trail. The trail link will bypass a busy, narrow bridge that is currently a barrier between the popular Bellingham Greenways system and the northern continuation of the Coast Millennium Trail. This trail bypass will provide a safe route for commuters and school children. The group has already secured Safe Routes to School funding for the project, and they will use Bikes Belong’s funding to help match a state Pedestrian and Bicycle Safety Grant. Local bike shops, the Mt. Baker Bicycle Club, and many others are very supportive of this important project.
More about the Coast Millennium Trail. . .

Centerville-Washington Park District—Iron Horse Trail
A $10,000 grant will help the Centerville-Washington Park District, along with the cities of Centerville and Kettering, Ohio, construct the Iron Horse Trail. The new bike path will eventually connect the communities of Centerville and Kettering (suburbs of Dayton) to an extensive multi-county trail network, enabling cyclists to commute by bike more easily and ride to recreation instead of driving to area paths. Bikes Belong funding, a contribution from the William & Dorothy Yeck Nature Fund, and support from an area bike shop will leverage Clean Ohio Trail Funds for project construction.
More about the Park District’s Multi-use Trail Plan. . .

Trails and Open Space Coalition—Pikes Peak Greenway/South Tejon Street Connector
Colorado Springs, Colorado’s Trails and Open Space Coalition will receive $5,000 to help build a safe, ADA-approved link between the heavily used Pikes Peak Greenway and the bike lanes on South Tejon Street. This link will also give path users safe and easy access to the nearby public transit station, encouraging people to commute by bike. Bikes Belong’s funding will help meet a shortfall in the city’s Trails, Open Space and Parks budget for the project.
More about Trails and Open Space Coalition. . .

Yukon BMX Parents and Riders Association—Track and Trail Enhancements
A $5,000 grant will support the Yukon BMX Parents and Riders Association, in Yukon, Oklahoma, a suburb of Oklahoma City, as they work to resurface their track and build a mountain bike trail surrounding the BMX facility. These two improvements will help Yukon BMX support a growing number of young riders during peak times, and the singletrack trail will give kids who are interested in bicycling, but not necessarily in BMX, the chance to ride with their friends in a safe, off-road setting. This timely grant comes on the heels of Oklahoma City Mayor Mick Cornett’s challenge to his constituents to collectively lose one million pounds through healthy eating and active living.
More about Yukon BMX. . .

About Bikes Belong
Bikes Belong Coalition is the U.S. bicycle industry organization dedicated to putting more people on bicycles more often. Bikes Belong lobbies to increase federal bike funding, awards grants to support innovative bike projects, promotes bicycling and its benefits, and backs crucial national efforts such as Safe Routes to School, Bicycle Friendly Communities, and the National Bike Summit. The affiliated Bikes Belong Foundation focuses on improving bicycle safety and enhancing children’s bike programs.

Since Bikes Belong’s Grants Program began in 1999, we have funded 160 grant proposals in 44 states and the District of Columbia, awarding nearly $1.3 million in cash and leveraging more than $476 million in federal, state, and private funding. Our facilities grants alone have helped finance nearly 1,400 miles of bike paths and trails that link close to 6,400 miles of trail facilities.

For more information, visit bikesbelong.org.

Oakland, CA – Three members of the Health Net Pro Cycling Team Presented by Maxxis, the top professional cycling team in North America, will visit patients at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland on February 14 at 2:30 p.m.

Riders Matt Crane, Roman Kilun and John Murphy will be on-hand to visit with patients at the hospital. All three are part of the Health Net Presented by Maxxis squad for the Amgen Tour of California, which begins Sunday, February 17.

“Riding for a team sponsored by Health Net, part of our mission as cyclists and representatives of the sponsor is to promote health and wellness,” said Kilun, who lives on the Berkeley-Oakland border, just a few minutes from the hospital. “But with a situation like the kids at Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, it’s a bit different. Many of them have serious illnesses that you really can do nothing to prevent.

“We know they go through a lot of difficulty in treatment and recovery,” he added. “As pro cyclists, we endure our share of pain and suffering on the bike, but it’s nothing compared to what these kids go through. They’re incredibly strong and brave. They give us a bit of perspective. And hopefully we can share stories with them and make them feel a bit better.”

About Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland, CA
Children’s Hospital & Research Center Oakland is Northern California’s only freestanding and independent children’s hospital. Children’s is the leader in many pediatric specialties including neonatology, cardiology, neurosurgery and intensive care. The hospital is a designated Level 1 pediatric trauma center and has the largest pediatric critical care facility in the region. Children’s Hospital has 190 licensed beds, 201 hospital-based physicians in 31 specialties, more than 2,611 employees and an operating budget of $312 million. Children’s research arm, Children’s Hospital Oakland Research Institute (CHORI), has approximately 300 staff members and an annual budget of more than $49 million. The National Institutes of Health is CHORI’s primary funding source. The institute is a leader in translational blood diseases, developing new vaccines for infectious diseases and discovering new treatment protocols for previously fatal or debilitating conditions such as cancers, sickle cell disease and thalassemia, diabetes, asthma, HIV/AIDS, pediatric obesity, nutritional deficiencies, birth defects, hemophilia and cystic fibrosis.
Rider Information

Matt Crane
Matt is the youngest member of the Health Net Presented by Maxxis squad at 22 years old. He proved to be a tireless worker for the team in 2007, contributing to numerous stage and overall race wins. He’ll be looked upon to work for Health Net Presented by Maxxis team leaders Rory Sutherland and Phil Zajicek during the Amgen Tour of California.

John Murphy
Though just 24, John brought a lot of experience racing in Europe to the team in 2007. Using his big engine, he worked diligently to help the team succeed in 2007. He also found his way onto the podium on a number of occasions, including winning the time trial stage of the Tri Peaks Challenge. Look for John to put in a strong performance at the opening prologue of the Amgen Tour of California on Sunday, February 17.

Roman Kilun
Roman started off 2007 by passing the California BAR exam following the end of his studies at the prestigious Hastings College of Law in San Francisco. On the bike, he was instrumental in helping to deliver several stage race wins for the team last season, including the Mt. Hood Cycling Classic and the Tour of the Gila. He’ll also be an integral support rider for team leaders Sutherland and Zajicek during the Amgen Tour of California.

Feature photograph: Casey Gibson

One of the four new riders on the Toyota-United Pro Cycling is the 6-Time Canadian National Road Champion Dominique Rollin who won nine races as a first-year professional in 2007 and finished third overall at the inaugural Tour of Missouri. The 25-year old spent many of his formative years racing and living in France for amateur teams, including the well known V.C. Roubaix Lille Metropole.

I sat down with Dominique Rollin over a Monday morning coffee on his first day at the Toyota-United training camp in Solvang, California. He shared his background, his goals for the year, and our conversation was punctuated by laughs and chuckles.

Toyota-United contacted Rollin when his 2007 squad, the Kodak Gallery Pro Cycling Team announced that it was stopping operations. “I really didn’t really have any negotiations with them. The day after my team announced that it was folding, I received a call from Toyota. Just like that.”

Rollin is part of the Toyota-United squad for the Amgen Tour of California and will be looking to help out the team and to make his mark this season.

About his background

In his hometown of Boucherville, Quebec, at the tender age of ten, Rollin entertained himself by following on his mountain bike his older brother, who raced bikes, on his training rides.

“I think this is my fifteenth season this year… yeah, I’ve spent more than half my life on a bike. My parents kept me back, but the year after, at 11 years old, I started racing and since then it’s a passion.”

The amateur circuit in the province of Quebec allowed him many opportunities to challenge himself and to develop as a racer. “There was always at a minimum, about thirty riders lining up for each race for each category. Even sometimes we were fifty-ish. It’s good when you are 10 or 11 years old, about forty guys to race against and with.”

Rollin continued to race in Quebec and Canada, and his results impressed Jacques Landry, the then coach of the National Team, and starting in 1999, he raced in Europe with the National Team.

In 2003 and 2004, Rollin joined French amateur teams and even though he made a name for himself, he couldn’t find a team for the 2005 season. “I came back home for a bit of rest, relaxation, of rethinking of my career,” said a laughing Rollin. “these things happen. It’s tough going to Europe, it’s known to be tough mentally, especially as an amateur because there isn’t really a good team organizational structure, you are just left on your own where only results matter.”

After returning to race in Quebec, Rollin send an email to V.C. Roubaix Lille Metropole amateur team in September 2005, with almost no expectations. He was going to stay in Quebec and race just for fun, when in November, DS Cyrille Guimard contacted him. “He said ‘we have a spot that just opened, are you interested in joining us?’ ‘Yes’, when Cyrille Guimard calls you, you say yes. I jumped on the opportunity, it was a good experience.”

Unfortunately, Rollin found that the team while “looking organized from the outside, was a mess from the inside,” or as Rollin said “Pourquoi faire simple quand on peut faire compliquer.”

Living and Racing in France

Rollin learned tremendously from racing and living in Europe especially from his first Directeur Sportif, Guy Gallopin, brother to Astana’s Allain Gallopin. From him, he not early learned how to race correctly, but all the work off the bike essential to being a profesional racer, such as auto-massage techniques, stretching refinements. Gallopin also made him work on his pedaling technique, “before I was just pushing, I pointed my foot, I think I spent 3 months working my pedaling technique, I would race and even the juniors would beat me” laughed Rollin. His pedaling improved, and “I saw a big difference, I was really comfortable in a race when I had to give it my all.”

Obviously, Rollin had to go through an adjustment phase when he went to race in Europe. “I was going to Europe since ‘99 with the National Team so it is a transition to go from a 60-man field to a 200-man strong peloton racing on roads four times narrower.”

“It was an adaptation, but it was there that I really learned how to race, it was there that I learned to read a race correctly, how to position myself.”

He remembers one race in particular that helped him understand how to race in the wind, and how to use echelons. “The Olympia Tour in Holland where I took a wicked beating but after that I knew how to ride in the wind.” chuckled Rollin, “After that, there were no problems.”

Living in France was not easy even if he spoke the language. For the three years that he lived in France, he had the bad luck to find himself living in apartments that were removed from everything. In his second year, his apartment was surrounded by schools which were empty during the summer. “There is no one, you find yourself all alone, with no mode of transportation, no car, without anything, so I had no one to see. After a while, you really need to talk to someone that doesn’t know anything about cycling to get your mind of cycling.”

A lot of riders have difficulty adjusting to moving to another country and often can’t adapt. “You leave the country but when you get there the team wants you to only think of cycling, cycling, cycling but you need time to think of other things, to see other things… that is what is so tough, missing that little moment of rest makes you crack.”

For Rollin, 2004 was a difficult year where he questioned his cycling career, so much so that he put his “World Championship at risk which is the reason I was second to last at the time trial.” He had been reaching out to the Canadian Cycling Association (CCA) for two months asking for assistance to no avail “because the man in charge was a Frenchman in France and he couldn’t understand what we were going through.”

“There was a cultural barrier even though we spoke the same language. We need to move, to see other things, you can’t really stay in front of TF1 and France 2 all the time”, summarized a laughing Rollin.

In 2006, V.C. Roubaix Lille Metropole took a professional license while they were in negotiations with Rollin without informing him of this change of licensing. When Rollin heard the news through the media, he stopped the negotiations”, due to “a lack of respect.”

Stay tuned for part two, when Rollin recaps his 2007 season and we go over his goals for the 2008 year with the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

Photo c. Kathleen Poulos and Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team

by Stephanie Gutowski and Lyne Lamoureux

The UCI Continental Bissell Pro Cycling Team strategy to grow slowly is paying off, and the team is looking to improve on its 2007 accomplishments. Team Manager Mark Olson started building up the team four years ago and his goal “from the beginning was to build a quality organization from the ground up, build it slow and to keep adding talent and experience.”

The RoadBikeReview crew met with the team during their two week training camp in Santa Rosa. The team, split up amongst 3 houses in this beautiful area in Northern California, was finishing up breakfast and getting ready for their ride. Some riders were watching the Giro to prepare to train for the next hours in hopefully sunny conditions which have been rare in the past weeks.

With a new title sponsor - last September, Bissell announced its transition from co-sponsor of the 2007 Priority Health presented by Bissell Pro Cycling Team to the title sponsor - the team grew from 12 riders to 14 with the addition of two-time Giro finisher Aaron Olson, climber Burke Swindlehurst and New Zealand’s Jeremy Vennell, coming off from 4 years of racing in Europe. For Mark Olson, “after a phenomenal year with Ben Jacques-Maynes right out of the gate with the NRC points lead”, the 2008 team is “much deeper team, a more experienced team”.

“We are adding to the top end of our team so the expectation is hopefully we can do what we did last year. If we do the same, that would definitely be very acceptable to us but we obviously try and strive to do the best we can and you know going into the season with a good positive attitude.” said Directeur Sportif Glen Mitchell.

The goal of the team, repeated by everyone, is simply “win races” Olson elaborated. “I want us to get on the podium for our sponsors. If we end up getting the lead for the NRC points then we might make some adjustments but out of the gate we want to win races.”

The focus of the team is stage races and the big one day races. “We featured last year in California, we featured in Georgia, we want to build on that, we want to feature more in those races, tour of California, Georgia, Missouri, National Championships, the Philly races.“ said Mitchell.

Returning riders

Twenty-nine year old Ben Jacques-Maynes’ personal goal “remains the same” - winning the NRC - “but for the team I’d like to see the guys step up and get an equal amount of wins. I definitely think we have the team to do that.” For Jacques-Maynes, the team will now multiple options to play out, “the middle of the race, the end of the race, how we’re going to affect the race”. “You’ll see a lot of aggressiveness, positive racing out of our team and hopefully a lot of wins. You’ll see us in a lot of breaks in the Tour of California. We’re going to be putting the Bissell name out there. With riders like Burke we’ll make it over the steep climbs and big rollers like Aaron, me and Tom. It’s gonna make for some exciting racing. I am focusing on the prologue. A nice short 5 minute effort like that has my name written all over it.” (More in Ben Jacques-Maynes interview).

Tom Zirbel’s 2007 season, marred by a blood clot in his leg followed by a pulmonary embolism ended on a high note with his fourth-place finish at the US Pro Time Trial National Championship. He wants to start the new year where he left off, and is focused on the Tour of California prologue and Solvang time trial, “It’s my job to do well in those two races. As the race changes I may be asked to do other things, like get in a breakaway, or chase down a break, I just need to be ready. We have some excellent GC riders and the goal is to some where down the line to get me ready to be a GC rider. I am still learning a lot. If my time trialing puts me in a position to do well in the GC, they will support me.”

Australian Richard England’s personal goals are to get an overall improvement from last year. “This is the first year I have not done track racing in Australia. I have been concentrating a lot more on the road and hopefully that turns out to some good results for me and the team. I want to improve on my consistency more than anything. During the last three years I have good races and last year was a step up as to consistency but I want to step that up again.”

Pennsylvania-native Scott Zwizanski’s goals are focused on one day races. “My main goal, personal goal for the whole year is Philadelphia week races. That is my strength, hard one day races. So outside of that, well my goals, all my goals are all team oriented anyway, in stage races, I’ll be helping out our GC boys and time trial boys to kick some butt.”

Twenty-four old Teddy King is starting his third year with the team. “I think the team surprised a lot of people last year. Given the extra fire power we got this year in Burke (Swindlehurst) and Aaron (Olson), that’s definitely going to help out the team in moving up in the NRC standings. Having a guy like Burke, he can climb at the end of the day, instead of putting the burden…well not burden…but there was a lot on Ben’s (Jacques-Maynes) shoulders. I am going to try to help out as much as possible.”

Returning for his second year on the team, twenty-two year old Morgan Schmitt’s personal goals are to have a good ride in the Tour of Pennsylvania. “It’s a race for U25 riders, and me Steven (Howard) and Graham (Howard) will go going there. Hopefully we’ll be racing with guys around the world. I’d like to have some more depth in my legs this year. I want to be able to help out more and as a team I’d like Ben Jacques-Maynes to win the NRC this year. See what we can do this year on the circuit because we have a lot more firepower.”

Omer Kem sees himself as a rider for the team, and he wants to help the team win more races this year. “Our focus will be less on the NRC title and go get every race. The team is a lot deeper this year.” He wants to ride well in California, Georgia, and Missouri. As an Oregonian, Mt Hood and the Cascade Classics have a special place in his heart. “If I was gonna say, ‘Hey guys, it would be really nice to do well.’ One of those two in front of family and friends would be very nice.”

Winner of the 2007 Tour of Leelanau, Garrett Peltonen is just happy to be part of the organization. “I think on the team level we are watching the progression continue. Last year we didn’t know what to expect, had a lot of new pieces and this year we picked up a lot of new pieces, a level higher than last year. There is no special race I am targeting. I am just letting the pieces fall. I am the worker who is still learning.”

New riders

Jeremy Vennell is starting his first year in America after riding with DFL-Cyclingnews-Litespeed in Europe. “One of my personal goals is to win a race here in America, and to get a good idea of the races here. I did one race here last year and it’s different than racing in Europe. I am pretty excited about racing here. We are looking for a good team spirit. “

After two years in the ProTour, first with Saunier-Duval and then TMobile, Aaron Olson is back to racing in America. “I think I have one of the leadership roles along with Ben, who proved himself last year so well. I want to come in and bring extra firepower to the team, bring my experience of racing in Europe. For me my goal is to help the team get results, whether it’s me, or help Ben or Tom, or whoever to achieve better results. I wanted to come back to a team that was more like a family, that was a little smaller, where everyone gets along really well. There are races that I would like to do well, depends on how well my form is at that time. I have always liked the Philadelphia race and the Tour of Georgia is a great race. My first goal is to do well at the Redlands Classics.”

Bringing a lot of experience to the team in 2008 is Burke Swindlehurst. The thirty-four year old climber’s goals for this season are the same that they’ve always been which is just to help the team get results first and foremost, those come ahead of any personal goals. “From a personal perspective, I always have a few races that I really like which are you know obviously for me, races with big hills in them, so Tour of the Gila has always been a favorite, Hood, I love Hood that’s a great race, Cascades, Tour of Utah is back which I’m really excited about. And apparently there’s a stage in Colorado which is just after the race in Utah.”

Portuguese born João Miguel da Silva Correia stopped racing in 1996 after riding for Portuguese and Dutch pro teams and started seriously training again a year and half ago. “This is the year that I am really focusing on doing well and National Championship for the time trial are very important to me and hopefully going to the Olympics for the time trial. Olympics are my big goal”. His role in the team is to help out and mentor where possible. “I’d love to work with the younger riders to share some of my experiences. My role is always as a helper, that tends to be the traditional role of Portuguese riders, we’re great helpers.”

“We really had the pick of the crop this year.” said Mark Olson. “We could have pretty much got whoever we wanted, we are very selective. Chemistry is number one for this team. It’s definitely been the strategy from the beginning to grow slow and keep adding guys like Ben and Burke.”

Mitchell wants to “get the name of the team out there and that’s definitely what we want to do and we want to do it on our bikes. That’s the attitude that we are going with.”

The first big race for the team is the upcoming Tour of California. Last year, the team was very disappointed with the events that happened in stage one where if not for race commissaires’ decision, the team would have held the leader’s jersey. “It was stuff that was out of our control, and we had to bit our tongue a little bit on those decisions, we would have been in the yellow jersey. We weren’t, “ said Mitchell, “Ben has been working hard to have a day in that jersey that would make our whole tour if that happened. “

The Bissell Tour of California squad will be led by Ben Jacques-Maynes and time-trial specialist, Tom Zirbel, Vying for the six remaining spots are Aaron Olson, Burke Swindlehurst, Garrett Peltonen, Omer Kem, Jeremy Vennell, Richard England, Teddy King, and Scott Zwizanski.

2008 Bissell Pro Cycling Team

Richard England (AUS)
Graham Howard (USA)
Steven Howard (USA)
Ben Jacques-Maynes (USA)
Omer Kem (USA)
Teddy King (USA)
Aaron Olson (USA)
Garrett Peltonen (USA)
Morgan Schmitt (USA)
João Miguel da Silva Correia (POR)
Burke Swindlehurst (USA)
Jeremy Vennell (NZL)
Tom Zirbel (USA)
Scott Zwizanski (USA)

See also:

• Tom Zirbel - Healthy and aiming for the time trial
• Burke Swindlehurst - it’s all about the team
• Ben Jacques-Maynes - still burning with fire

Stage 4 and 5 ride diaries as penned by Ben Day of Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team.

Vuelta Ciclista CROC– Monterrey, Mexico

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has 5 riders down in Monterrey fighting for some strong race training prior to the Amgen Tour of California. The small team includes Dominique Rollin, Ivan Dominguez, Henk Vogels, Jose Manuel (Chepe) Garcia, and Ben Day. The team has finished 5 stages so far and we are releasing an update of the recent action from the pen of Ben Day.

Henk Vogels is currently in 2nd place in the General Classification after five stages trailing Hector Rangel in the yellow Jersey.

1st stage: - Henk Vogels 2nd and Dominique Rollin 5th
2nd stage: - Henk Vogels and Dominique Rollin finished in remains of peloton to maintain GC spot
3rd stage: - Ben Day 2nd
4th stage:- Ivan Dominguez1st and Henk Vogels4th
5th stage:- Dominique Rollin 1st and Ben Day 5th.

Stage 4 Diary From Pen of Rider Ben Day:

After the first 3 stages of close finishes and having the whole Mexican peloton marking our wheels, today we finally broke through with a win. The first stage saw Henk and Dom lap the field in a 12 man break, Henk finishing 2nd and Dom 5th. The 2nd stage was more of a matter of minimizing our losses with 5 punctures in 70km and a neutral support vehicle that didn’t want to give us wheels… In the third stage, the 5 of us put the hammer down in the crosswinds and shredded the field to pieces. If it wasn’t for Dom having an untimely puncture, we would have had 5 guys in a group of 20 at the finish. Instead, it was just Henk and I trying to consolidate Henk’s 2nd overall. I slipped into a move in the final 5km and misjudged the sprint line and finished 2nd on the stage. So, today, we were keen to go to Mr Dependable, the maestro Ivan Dominguez.

In the 70km hotdog crit, we found ourselves in a situation with a move of the road, containing Chepe who had a great aggressive ride today. He was feeling rather outnumbered as the peloton aren’t our best friends after what we did to them yesterday. So we brought that move back, Chepito and I keeping the pace high for the last 10km and we practiced our leadout to perfection. Chepe rode until 1 lap to go, then I took over until the bottom corner, Dom “The Horse” Rollin wound the boys out of the corner, Henk hit the burners and set Dominguez up perfectly for a win, with Henk in 4th. Hats off to the yellow jersey holder though who showed his talent with a 2nd place.

It was a nice way for the boys to bond a bit more. It felt like we are on a little bit of a boy scout camp for the first few days, trying to organize how to do everything to get to the stages ready to go, so it has certainly has been a bit of a different experience. As we look at the weather channel, we are pretty grateful to be down here, basking in 80f temps, whilst back in the States it is still rather frigid. Experiences this week: yes, it is possible to sit in the backseat of a tiny cab with The Horse, Dreek, the Maestro, and myself. A novel concept for stage racing is to drop the cyclists off at a truckstop on a open highway, and tell them to race to the next town, ie, 130-150km stages with no corners…. Best looking team kit in the peloton goes to the spidermen – both the evil black spidermen and the goodies red spidermen, especially when one of the dudes has a pair of Toyota- United Pro Cycling Team knicks on!

Stage 5 Diary from Rider Ben Day:

So perhaps we underestimated the first climb today. In the other road stage, the climbs had been big gear highway climbs. The first one today was just that little bit harder, a good bit longer and at 1900 meters of altitude. Our man on GC, Henk Vogels, doesn’t like climbing as much as other stuff, but about as much as he likes altitude. He made it over not too far from the front though, and with the help of the boys bombing down the descent he was back in the bunch in no time. This was followed by a bit of easy time, but there was one more, harder climb to go and the leaders had seen that Henk wasn’t right in the front on the first climb. So they hit it hard. Dom and I stayed with the lead group of 10-15 riders, while the other guys protected Henk, with Chepe doing a great job pacing him on the climb. Henk handled the 2nd climb a lot better than the first, and the guys at the front seemed a bit demoralized when they saw they wouldn’t be riding away from our man, 2nd on GC.

With 40km to go, our next thoughts went to how we could win the stage.
Dominique has shown some great form these past few weeks and so we decided to look after him for the kick. As things played out, I hit the front with 5km to go, and I must say I was brilliant (although I didn’t realize it), when I finished my turn with 1km to go, there were only 4 guys left on my wheel. Dom was there, saw that the other guys were spent, and in one kilometer, he put 14 seconds into the chasers. We don’t call him horse for nothing! I gasped across the line for 5th, still in the money.

Henk, like a trooper, finished in a small very select group behind us with the yellow jersey, who once again showed that he is a class act. With Henk’s ride today, he gained a bit more breathing space in 2nd overall.

Oh yeah, it’s hot down here!

In 2006, we celebrated our 100th anniversary with the introduction of our top-end Cento, which we’ve improved each year since, with the implementation of new technologies and manufacturing processes. The Cento’s sleek and flowing lines, contoured and oversized head tube, as well as its high compaction, unidirectional monocoque carbon fiber construction, have created a place for it among the world’s superbikes. Of course, it’s also ProTour proven, with input and victories provided by Damiano Cunego and the riders of team Lampre.

EasyDriver Box System head tube design
Crucial forces on a bike’s head tube are diagonal. When you lean into a turn, or pull/push on the levers and in the drops of your handlebars for out-of-the-saddle efforts, you’re applying torsional and linearly diagonal forces to your bike’s front end. The Cento’s oversized, squared and contoured head tube resists those forces where they are most prevalent, working in conjunction with its oversized fork to provide maximum stability and optimal steerability. In short, you’ll benefit from unrivaled control when you stand on your pedals and when you sprint, as well as from unmatched tracking through the gnarliest of turns.The Cento’s unidirectional carbon fiber monocoque frame is constructed using a patented molding process that allows control of the tubes’ exact wall thicknesses. That process, along with the implementation of both T60 (high modulus/maximum stiffness) and M40J (medium modulus/maximum strength) “pre-preg” unidirectional carbon fiber in complementary fashion, make for optimal ride quality. In other words, wall thickness can be made ultra thin where stresses on the frame are lowest to save weight, and slightly thicker to ensure stiffness and resilience for stability and efficient transfer of energy at the bottom bracket. The implementation of multiple types of carbon fiber provides the Cento with a smooth and efficient ride, while weighing in at only 940 grams (Large frame size).

Cento custom fork
A crucial component of the EasyDriver Box System (“ED”) is the Cento’s superlight custom monocoque carbon fork, designed to complement the structural and performance benefits of the frame’s head tube. We started with Mizuno’s Drome model as a benchmark, working with their engineers to develop a fork that built on the Drome’s qualities of smoothness and stability, while adding the oversized, squared front design of the ED to further stabilize the bike’s front end for optimal steerability. Mizuno has been developing and manufacturing carbon fiber bicycle components for fifteen years, and makes use of the latest nano technologies in the manufacture of their composite matrixes. The Cento fork was created as integral part of the frame’s design to help you ride it even harder, and with even more control.

Reinforced bottom bracket
The Cento’s bottom bracket area is structurally reinforced – read: oversized and “overbuilt” – to ensure stiffness, stability and responsiveness. When you pull on your handlebars and feel the how solid the Cento’s front end is, that’s just the beginning. As soon as you apply force to the cranks, you feel the frame leap forward, making you want to push that much harder and ride faster. Aluminum inserts provide dependable interfaces at the bottom bracket shell and headset cups.

Chainstays & dropouts
The chainstays are molded from intermediate modulus M40J unidirectional carbon fiber for maximum strength and power transmission, while the rear dropouts are made entirely of solid, extremely high compaction carbon fiber, made possible by the latest in high pressure molding technology.

Italian style
The final differentiating characteristics of every Wilier Triestina frame are design and finish. In true Italian tradition, the smooth, flowing lines of each frame’s structural design – shaped and reinforced in key stress areas for strength and stability – are complemented by colors and paint schemes that bring those contours to life. And, of course, there’s tradition. Wilier’s trademark “ramata” copper chrome look dates back several decades, implemented now in special versions of our sexy modern finishes.

Wilier Triestina USA is a partnership between Wilier Triestina of Rossano Veneto, Italy, and their US importer, Velo Imports, which began distributing the brand in 1999. Like a true Italian business, “Wilier USA” is owned and run by father and son, Angelo and Gianmarco Cilli, themselves Italians. Over the past nine years, Angelo and Gianmarco have sought out and established relationships with elite bicycle retail stores across North America, which have become authorized Wilier dealers. Most summers, the Cillis and staff accompany many of their dealers on a trip to Italy for a tour of the Wilier Triestina offices and factory in Rossano, as well as some of the best riding in the world, including many nearby climbs often featured in the Giro d’Italia. Wilier Triestina is the proud sponsor of the Lampre Pro Tour team of Damiano Cunego and Alessandro Ballan. For more information, visit www.wilier-usa.com.

Pettyjohn and Moninger name the starters for the 2008 ATOC Race.

Los Angeles, CA - The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team Directors Len Pettyjohn and Scott Moninger have named the racing team for the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. Scott and Len have narrowed down the riders for the Amgen Tour of California. The main criteria they used this year was to utilize riders from the Southern Hemisphere primarily who have been riding and training specifically for the early season race in California. The riders they have targeted for the race are Heath Blackgrove (NZL), Ben Day (AUS), Ivan Dominguez (CUB), Hilton Clarke (AUS), Jonny Clarke (AUS), Caleb Manion (AUS), Dominique Rollin (CAN), Henk Vogels (AUS), and Jose Manuel (Chepe) Garcia (MEX), out of these nine they will choose the final 8. All of these have raced over the past 4-6 weeks mainly in Australia and New Zealand with Blackgrove, Day and Jonny Clarke recently sweeping the podium at the Boulevard road race in San Diego. A group of 5 Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team members are currently racing in the Tour of Monterrey in Mexico February 4th -10th.

This team includes last years ATOC stage 7 winner, Ivan Dominguez (CUB). Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team brought home the final stage win last years ATOC as Ivan Dominguez, the “Cuban Missle” shocked the world with his strong finish. Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team has the more Stage Wins in the large 3 domestic tours with (7) over the last two years than any other team. The success should be noted based on the facts that Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is entering its 3rd season together and the riders have gelled strongly with fantastic leadership from existing riders carrying over to the new riders on the 08 squad.

Henk Vogels said at the final training camp dinner, “These guys are the best I have ever worked with. It is a true brotherhood and I want to fight for this team in 2008, like I never have in the past. “ The team is primed after two solid weeks of training in Solvang, CA. The weather finished beautifully for the team as they put on the mileage in the beautiful Central Coast Valley. Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is ready to take on the best that 2008 has to offer.

Photo © Kathleen Poulos

In the first part of our conversation with Bissell Pro Cycling rider Ben Jacques-Maynes, we recapped his 2007 season and his use of the track to enhance his training for the upcoming season.

More about his team and changes in 2008

Simply stated Jacques-Maynes likes and respects his teammates. “It’s just a nice group of guys who I actually really like hanging out with and I think that’s also been brought together by Glen Mitchell”. New Zealander Glen Mitchell is the directeur sportif of the team, and is a former teammate of Jacques-Maynes.

“I told myself if I had the opportunity to race under him. He’s a great tactician, really attentive to detail of the race in general and I knew he could apply that to being a manager. Obviously I think he’s really well acquitted himself in his job. I think we fit together well and I race well under his style.”

The new year brought changes to the team with five new riders joining a core of returning riders, increasing the overall number of riders from 12 to 14. As soon as Jacques-Maynes signed on, Mitchell asked for input and feedback.” Glen wanted a lot of input about who he was talking to. Like all negotiations, nothing was locked down, there was a lot of back and forth, ‘what about this guy, that guy to fill that role and as it kind of gelled together. I personally trust Glen’s ability to put together a solid team. There are budgetary requirements as well, you can’t just spend the moon and buy whoever you want.”

The team slots were filled, and the team is now complete, and Jacques-Maynes feels “the guys on my team are top notch, we put a little heavier top end now and I think it’s going to be a better combination.”

“We have a certain racing style and we’re not going to sit around and wait for bunch kicks all year long because we don’t have the money to go hire one huge sprinter and then the whole leadout train for him. You hire five guys who can upset everything on a train once it’s assembled, you get the guys who throw the money wrench in the program, cause mayhem at the end of a race through solo perseverance.”

Jacques-Maynes is looking forwards to work for some of the guys, such as new rider on the team Burke Swindlehurst. “Burke as our climber is a great example… I can go for the first kilometer of a climb, string it out and then just drop anchor. I wasn’t able to do that all year and I’m really looking forwards to that.”

Two new riders are Jeremy Vennell and Aaron Olson. “Vennell, a new kiwi and he’s super fast, He’s probably going to be a little bit better climber that me – which isn’t that hard right now – and still be just as good a TT rider”. And Olson joined the team after two successful years racing in the UCI ProTour, is “just strong everywhere.”

“I probably won’t have as many good results to point too this year because the team is going to be so much stronger.”

About his goals in 2008 and the Tour of California

Jacques-Maynes’ goals for 2008 can be simply described as “just being consistent once again, and wins, wins, wins, and obviously I’d like to win the NRC.” And he doesn’t care how they come, either for himself or setting up a teammate, “I want to see a lot of wins out of my team.”

He wants to “put the Bissell name out there and I know think that we are one of the top teams in the country and we may not be perceived as that yet and we just need to prove it.”

“I know we can do it. You get one or two other guys performing consistently, and me performing consistently and Tom Zirbel healthy and we’re going to be in the finale of every single race we do. If we’re doing that, that means we made our mark.”

A strong and consistent builds confidence and “once you show at a race with confidence like that, you can’t help but perform, and I have confidence in my guys and I want to help them do it too”. A chuckling Jacques-Maynes added “I can’t do it myself anymore.”

The upcoming Tour of California is very important to Jacques-Maynes and his team. As a specialist “in short time trials for me, it’s what I feel I’m particularly good at”, Jacques-Maynes is aiming for the prologue and wants to year that yellow jersey.

The Tour of California “is going to be a difficult race”. Looking at the stage 3, the 102.7 miles from Modesto to San Jose, climb to the 4360-foot summit of Mt. Hamilton followed by a fast descent before the road again tilts upwards again on the ascent of Sierra Road. “There are going to be a lot of guys struggling to make the time cut on the race into San Jose.”

“That climb over the back of Mt Hamilton is 40 miles long and then we’re hitting Sierra Road. There was a group that was off the back of Sierra Road half an hour down, that’s without any climbing to get there. Now you do some huge climb like that, they better go piano up thirty of those forty miles, or it’s going to be … it could be an hour down easily. It’s that big of a climb, it’s that long of a climb, it’s not shallow. For the last 6 miles climbing Hamilton, if it’s raining down here, it will be snowing up there, and then you have another climb after you shiver your way seventeen miles down that mountain.”

Weather could play a major factor in the race. “Just because we’ve had kick ass weather for the past two years, just because we’re sitting around in 60 degree weather in January doesn’t mean it will be like that. I don’t know if they didn’t show up here when it’s just pouring rain and 60 miles per hour wind at my house a week ago and it was 120 miles an hour over the top of Hamilton. I don’t even want to contemplate riding my bike in that stuff.”

The final and seventh stage in the Tour of California is new this year, and is unknown to Jacques-Maynes. “The one thing I don’t know is the climb in Angeles forest on the last day, there are going to be a lot of DNF that day because they don’t care about the time cut. You’ll have three quarters of the race dropping out, Another huge climbing day in February and you climb another 5 thousand feet, it’s going to be, in the best scenario it’s going to be brutal. In the worst scenario, it’s going to be a death march. And in February people won’t entertain that so it could be a recipe for disaster for the race.”

About the state of American cycling and doping

To Jacques-Maynes, American cycling is “never like even ebb and flow, there’s transition, it’s an revolving wheel, it seems … every team wants to build up, and become the best team in the world, that epitome ride he Tour de France, blah blah blah People want to talk big and want to do it, fine, let them. I don’t think it’s changing the state of American cycling at all.”

Always a proponent of clean, aggressive and positive racing in America, Jacques-Maynes doesn’t know “if we’ll have it because there will always be some kind of hijinks thrown into the mix and now the problem now is there will be perception of hijinks and whether it happens or not, you know there could be a negative consequence.”

Our conversation then shifted to doping in cycling, and the perception that finding a clean rider is hard. Jacques-Maynes emphatically stated “Here’s one right here. I do nothing but ride my bike hard and I’ve been doing my whole time. I’ve got two kids to support and feed, and I want to be here and around long after I’ve ever been a cyclist. When that’s a distant memory I want my health, I want to say that I did that, I was proud of what I did and whatever level of success I’ve achieved I want to be proud of what I’ve done. I want to try and inspire people to do like me.”

Jacques-Maynes was very upset when Nathan O’Neill tested positive in October 2007. “How many time did I finish second to him? how many times did I… you know with just those second place finishes how many NRC points would I have gotten? you know I’ve had race wins taken away from me by dopers before.”

“It seems like war, you keep on looking forwards to a time when it won’t be a war going on. You want to be optimistic, something will always come out, something will always happen… all I can do is remain optimistic and do the best that I can do and show people that you can succeed, you don’t have to win every race.”

His plan is to “not worry about what everyone is doing and if you do get those wins, it makes so much better because in the back of your head you know that someone out there is doing some shit and you still beat them so ‘take that’.”