To paraphrase Jules Dassin’s movie, Naked City, there are million stories in the peloton. This is one of them.

Bissell Pro Cycling Team rider João Miguel da Silva Correia started racing at the tender age of six in his native Portugal. After moving to the United States with his family at the age of eleven, he continued racing, representing his country at the Junior World Championships in 92 and 93, and he went on to race professionally in Europe for Portuguese and Dutch teams. But in 1996, Correia stopped racing.

It all started with a bet. About a year and half ago, Correia carrying 190 pounds on his 5′9” frame was riding his bike in New York City.

“One of my clients saw me ride and ask ‘did you ever race?’ and I said ‘yeah, I used to race on a Portuguese pro team, I say that a lot but nobody really cares’, and he said ‘yeah, you can tell because of the pedaling, you can tell when a guy is a former rider’. He says ‘ how old are you?’, and I say ‘well, I’m 30 now’, and he says ‘well you can probably still get back into good shape’ so we made a bet.”

Correia started to do local races, and decided to prepare for the local races by doing national races, and did pretty well on his first race. He then started working with Dr Max Testa and Nanna Meyer to improve his form.

“I kept losing the weight, and then I did some races for Priority Health as a guest rider last year and this year they (Bissell) had an extra spot, and they called me and asked if I was interested and I said ‘yeah, who wouldn’t be’.”

And the weight came off, slowly. “The first 15 (pounds) just weren’t coming off really, and then they started coming off and then I just kept doing the right things with training, with nutrition. It really wasn’t focusing on so much weight loss but really just changing the way that I ate and the way that I rode, and it sort of just came off.”

It takes a long time to get back into shape. The first year, Correia focused on losing the weight while ensuring that the muscle fibers were building up, and that there were no joint problems with the knees.
Holding back was a challenge.

“A very close friend of mine who also works in New York City, a former junior World Champion from 2004, Miguel Morras from Spain. It’s funny we used to race together when we were kids and now we live in the same city, but you know, he also is doing the same thing I did because he had a bad accident in the mid 90s, but then he ended with new problems because the first year he was going so hard you know so the first year, I had to sort of just follow the wheels and let my body slowly acclimate. “

Last year, he pushed a little harder, with a focus on 2008. “This is the year that I’m really focusing on doing well and hopefully National Championships in the time trial are very important to me and hopefully going to the Olympics for the time trial, that’s my big goal. “

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Kristin Amrstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce) crushed the competition in the Sequoia Cycling Classic Yokohl Ranch Exeter Time Trial, winning the race of truth with a lead of four minutes seventeen seconds ahead of Alex Rhodes (High Road) and four minutes fifty seconds in front of Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s).

The US national champion Armstrong blitzed the finishing line in perfect form giving her a final time of one hour, one minute and thirty-one seconds. For anyone counting, Armstrong would have finished 26th in the Men’s Time Trial held earlier.

“It’s early so everyone is going to be at a different fitness level this time of year, March is early to be fit, people that are out here doing well today may not be the same people here in two or three months. It was a great course, a great organization I’m happy I came out here.” said Armstrong.

The Sequoia Cycling Classic Time Trial is the second race in the NRC Calendar for the women, and the heavy hitters came out to play. The first race, the Amgen Tour of California Women’s Criterium held in Santa Rosa, was won by Tibco’s Brooke Miller.

The 40 kilometer (24.6 mile) course started off with a 400 feet climb over Rocky Hill and into rolling and twisting Yokhol Valley gradually climbing 400 feet again before the turnaround and return to the start/finish line. The valley was absolutely beautiful with blooming mustard wildflowers but I doubt that anyone has a chance to enjoy it during the ride.

Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team), winner
“It was great, it was very terrained, tail wind going out, headwind coming back, lots of twisting and turning. They call it the race of truth for a reason and I really think that you couldn’t… there was not a minute out there that you could relax or take the pressure off, so I think that the people that are going to be up on the podium today are going to be the ones that raced hard the whole way.”

“I’m going up, I’m just now kind of coming into a little bit fitness. I leave for Europe on Monday, I’m going to do the Spring campaign with my new team Cervelo-Lifeforce and I’ll come back and race Montreal, Philly, Nature Valley with my team and then I prepare specifically for Beijing. My team is based out of Lucerne, Switzerland it consists of riders from all over the world and I’ll be the only American, but there’s a New Zealander, an Australian, some German girls, Swiss girl, Austria so it’s just a variety of gals, really nice, our team is really into time trial specialists, I think that so far, so good. It’s been a really fun time working with international gals.”

Alex Rhodes (Team High Road – Women), second place
“It was pretty, long obviously. I was happy with my ride, to come second to Armstrong, she’s awesome so to be on the podium, I’m stoked.

“Winds were not too bad. I sort of like the wind, it’s the only time where being a little bit heavier kind of helps (laughs) , see it helps when you eat ice cream. Obviously, with the team this year it’s nice to repay all the faith they have in me. “

Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team), third place
“It was hard, it’s a hard course which definitely suits me better. Like short, flat prologue-like that’s not really my thing, give me something that’s strong, hilly and hard , I can stay out there for a long time. It was good, what can I say, I’m really pleased, it’s a big year, Olympic year, you’ve got to be coming out the starting block guns blazing. I feel like my fitness is where it needs to be, you know to lose against Kristin Armstrong, I mean geez, and then Alex Rhodes who’s one of the best in Europe, I’m pretty happy, really I couldn’t ask for more.”

“We got these new bikes, I’ve been on it for a week, I love the bike, they are great, they’re hand me downs from Quickstep, I’ll take Bettini’s bike any day (laughs). It’s great, the bikes are fast. I’ve been working a lot of my TT and so to finally put in a really good one, to see that the hard work has paid off, I’m thrilled.”

“I’ve been doing at least once a week of intervals on my TT bike and then riding it a lot. Last year I had drastically changed my position and obviously it didn’t work for me because I sucked so this year I went back to what I was a couple of years ago and just really worked on being comfortable on the bike and I always knew that I could put out the power but it was being in a position that would allow me to generate the power and go fast so I think I was able to do that.”

Time Trial podium (l-r): Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s), Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce), Alex Rhodes (High Road)

On a personal note, I’d like to thank the good Samaritan that came to my assistance in Visalia on Saturday evening. The gentleman not only to my help to fix my car but he went the extra mile (or 10 actually) to make sure that everything was okay, and then to top it off, he flabbergasted me by offering up his discount at the car shop. Wow. Thank you so much.

Women’s TT Top 10

1. Kristin Armstrong (Cervelo-Lifeforce Pro Cycling Team) 01:01:31.89
2. Alex Rhodes (Team High Road - Women) +04:17.07
3. Felicia Gomez (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team) +04:52.19
4. Anne Samplonius (Cheerwine Cycling) +05:09.91
5. Katharine Carroll (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team) +05:41.18
6. Leigh Hobson (Cheerwine Cycling) +05:41.88
7. Mara Abbott (Team High Road - Women) +06:11.37
8. Molly Van Houweling (Metromint Cycling) +06:35.50
9. Kristin Sanders (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team) +06:52.69
10. Carmen Mcnellis (Aaron’s Pro Cycling Team) +06:54.29

Full results here.

Building on a successful first season, ValueAct Capital Professional Women’s Cycling Team is adding talent and experience to their roster. Nicole Evans, Leah Goldstein, Marni Hambleton, Lara Kroepsch and Chrissy Ruiter have joined the squad. ValueAct Capital will definitely be in contention this season for wins in the major stage races as well as the criteriums.

“Our team goal is to be one of the top three teams in the NRC,” states Lisa Hunt, the returning Team Director. “We really have an extremely well rounded and balanced team. We have climbers, we have overall riders, we have sprinters…..we have strong stage racers. We are going to be able to do basically every NRC race.”

New riders:

Nicole Evans rode for TEAm Lipton in 2007. She won both the 2006 High Uintas Classic and the Elkhorn Classic stage races. Evans was also 3rd place on GC at the 2007 Valley of the Sun Stage Race. Nicole’s strengths are in climbing and all-around riding.

Leah Goldstein is a three-time winner of Mt. Hood Cycling Classic. “We are targeting some of the key stage races…like Mt. Hood,” commented Hunt. “We plan to defend that title. Leah is our climber and our stage racer.”Goldstein is currently the Israeli national road race and time trial champion; she resides in Canada, where she trains in the mountains.

In 2007, Marni Hambleton joined the VAC team as a guest rider for Nature Valley, Altoona and Bermuda. Hambleton raced for the Symmetrics Women’s Professional team for the past 3 years, and was the silver medalist at the Canadian National Road Race in 2007.

Lara Kroepsch also comes to the VAC from TEAm Lipton. A talented criterium rider, Kroepsch has two collegiate national championships, along with top podium finishes at some of the NRC criteriums. She rode with T-Mobile prior to TEAm Lipton.“After racing professionally for many years you get adjusted to switching teams,” stated Kroepsch.

“It’s tough in the sport. I think women tend to form closer relationships with their teammates than men do. The good thing is….I have been riding a long time and I know these riders. It really is a small family out there competing. When you are selecting a team…it’s about the people you are riding with…the management…the riders…it’s everything. We become a family. We don’t get paid the big bucks so it has to be enjoyable. For me I made a conscience decision to join this team. I wanted to be riding with Lisa. I think riding for her will be very cool. I am very happy with being here.”

Chrissy Ruiter rode for Cheerwine in 2007. She was on the podium at the 2007 Athens Criterium and the Tri-Peaks Challenge. Her talent has earned her a spot on the US National Team for 2008, where she’ll be spending time in Europe with several other top US riders.

Returning Riders:

Sharon Allpress love for bike racing developed while she was sent on a UN peace-keeping mission to the East African country of Eritrea, a former Italian colony where cycling is the national sport. “My focus is on the stage races….to be helpful in climbing hills,” stated Allpress. “I love the stage races and the long endurance events. I love to them tactically because you have to be patient…..to let the race play out…..to read what is going on. I want to ride in support of my team….to get us the best possible finishes…to get us on the podium. I know we can do it.”

Hannah Banks is a promising young Australian with several national titles to her name. She spent 2006 racing with the Australian Institute of Sport National Team, which was based in Italy for the 2006 season and raced in the Women’s Giro di Italia and the Tour de l’Aude.

Courtenay Brown returns to the VAC team in 2008, but with a focus on multi-sport events. Last year, Courtenay transitioned to triathlons, and won her first two triathlons, including the Silverman.

Katie Mactier has two gold medals in the Individual Pursuit at the Sydney and Beijing World Cup Track events. “It’s a big year for me,” shared Mactier. “I have the Olympics coming up. I am preparing for the 3000m pursuit. I was really lucky last year as I had the opportunity to ride with VAC. They are a terrific group of girls. This year the program’s even bigger….and it’s a very important, key part of my preparation for August. We have some fantastic races lined up. Everybody here brings a unique element to the team dynamics. I am sure we are going to get a lot of great results. We also just enjoy each other’s company. We learn from each other….we share our different experiences. Everything I do this year is in preparation for August.”

“We are not curing cancer here. We are racing our bikes. We have been given an incredible opportunity…one that many would love. We have a team policy of, “No tears and lots of laughing.” We are very honest girls and give each other lots of encouragement. The girls here come from amazing backgrounds. They really are amazing. We sat around the other night and just shared tales…I feel very honored to be a part of this great team. Cycling is something we all share in common. Of course when we put our numbers on we are there to win but…..leading up to the race we want to have a good time.”

In 2007, Martina Patella finished on the podium at the Bermuda Grand Prix. “My personal goals are very vested in this team,” stated Patella. “When the team succeeds then I feel I have succeeded. We are going after the NRC title….and to keep establishing ourselves as a heavy hitting professional team….a team that can race their bikes and that are classy cyclists. I would love to see us as one of the top 3 teams in the country. I really believe we are capable of this….and that we have the chemistry to do it. We really work hard together. There are a lot of points available at stage races and we have great stage racers. In terms of personal goals, I would love to win a NRC race. I have been on the podium but I would love to get a win.”

Taitt Sato has been racing in Northern California since 2001. She enjoys hilly criteriums and flat road races. Before turning to cycling full time, her prior career was practicing transactional law. “This is my second year,” said Sato. “My goal for 2008 is to see how we can take this team to the next level….to make our presence known on the national arena. I am really focusing on riding in support of my team but also my have the opportunity to get my own name out there. I am really looking forward to seeing what we can do.

“Last year, we had a young, spirited team that really proved they had the ability to succeed. Katie Mactier’s wealth of experience really contributed to making this team ge,l” commented Hunt. “I wanted to build on that momentum, by adding more top stage race and single day race talent. It’s a great group of riders!”

The team will be contesting a full NRC schedule for 2008. Next on the schedule is the Sequoia Cycling Classic in Central California. The town of Exeter will be the start of Saturday’s Yokohl Ranch Exeter Time Trial, a 40-kilometer out-and-back course with two significant climbs, and neighboring Visalia will host Sunday’s Visalia Criterium.

Other Sponsors:
Blue Competition Bicycles: www.rideblue.com
Columbia Sportswear: www.columbia.com
DeFeet: www.defeet.com
Fi’zi:k: www.fizik.it
Michelin: www.michelin.com
Pictura Graphics: www.picturagraphics.com
PowerBar: www.powerbar.com
Reynolds: www.reynoldscycling.com
Ritchey Design, Inc.: www.ritcheylogic.com
Rudy Project: www.rudyprojectusa.com
Time Sport: www.time-sport.com
TRP Brakes: www.trpbrakes.com
Voler: www.voler.com
For more information regarding the team, visit www.teamvalueactcapital.com

ValueAct Capitals Katie Mactier-Looking for a Big Year

In a short span of three years, the BMC Racing team went from a regional Elite domestic team to Pro Continental under the leadership of its General Manager Gavin Chilcott. The team announced its presence loud and clear in the first stage of the Amgen Tour of California when Jackson Stewart went on a solo breakaway for 60 miles and won the King of the Mountain jersey for his effort.

Photo by Ken Conley

During the Merco Cycling Classic, Chilcott provided insight into his team and his plan for the future.

For Chilcott, the performance of his team at the Amgen Tour of California is very much representative of the team’s approach to the bigger races. The BMC Racing Team was awarded the Most Aggressive Team of the entire tour, won the King of the Mountains jersey, and had a top ten standing on the general classification with Alexandre Moos.

“We’ll be looking for, by and large, types of races where we won’t be the strongest team so we have to go more on the offensive tactically and be present in the breakaways, we don’t have the type of team that is going to be a dominant sprinting team or necessarily dominant climbing team in terms of individuals. Although in terms of depth, we do have a strong team in terms of climbers, maybe not the best climber in the peloton but a lot of the second tier climbers so we’ll play the strategic options that are available in that tier.”

The 2008 team – a combination of seasoned pros and eager youngsters

As a new Pro Continental teal. the BMC Racing Team started off the 2008 season with a roster of 16 riders, representing the United States, Switzerland and South Africa with 7 riders returning from the 2007 team.

“I think people realize that this is a good opportunity, that it’s already good but further that it’s a work in progress, that everybody is working hard. It’s a very healthy environment for riders, for staff, for management. Management is always to try to understand how to best allocate resources.”

A new rider to the team is 37-year old Tony Cruz, a stalwart member of the Discovery Channel team. “Tony brings the caliber and depth to the team that will be critical for the success of the expanded international program that we have designed for the upcoming two years. In addition to being a versatile and effective rider, Tony brings a valuable level of maturity and leadership to the team.”

Mike Sayers and new to the team Jeff Louder are two senior riders that are also seen as leaders and the hope is that Sayers will be a teacher for some of the younger guys at setting up the finish. “He had a great career, hundred of wins with Gord Fraser so he knows the drill. That’s something that will be good with Kohler, Wyss and with Tony as well.”

The three young Swiss riders, 24-year old Steve Bovay, Danilo Wyss and Marin Kohler, both 23-year old established their presence in the under 23 European circuit. Wyss finished 3rd at Paris-Roubaix, and 5th at the World Championships, Kohler won a stage at Tour de l’Avenir and would probably have finished on the podium of the 2007 Under 23 World Championships if not for a crash in the last 50 meters. Bovay is a promising climber who finished 6th at GP Tell in Switzerland.

Chilcott is hoping that the combination of Sayers & Cruz will be great instructional tools with Wyss and Kohler who are really “good fighters, good sprinters but who have done it more in the amateur style.”

Twenty-six year old South African Darren Lill joined the team this year, and his 8th place finish at the Tour of Missouri time trial caught Chilcott’s attention. “He’s a big talent, the thing that really interested me about him, what really got my attention for real was when his performance in the timetrial started coming together. Because now that makes him a realistic classification contender, he’s a promising rider, he’s fairly young too. “

New riders Brent Bookwalter and 23-year old Taylor Tolleson join returning riders Jackson Stewart, Scott Nydam, Nathan Miller, Ian McKissick, Jonathan Garcia and David Galvin to form the American contingent of the team with Cruz, Louder and Sayers.

Scott Nydam and Jackson Stewart - KOM jerseys; Photos by Ken Conley

The 28-year old Stewart started his second year with the team by winning the Cherry Pie Criterium in Napa, California, against an elite group of racers. A few days after his solo breakaway in the Tour of California, Stewart had to abandon the race with hypothermia after gobbling up all top mountain points on each of the three rated climbs.

On his second year as a professional, 31-year old Nydam won the King of the Mountains jersey at the 2008 Amgen Tour of California. “Nydam is a strong guy, strong constitution that can go out on the long bomb like that, he’s comfortable having his nose in the wind for hours on end.”

Bookwalter is coming back after severely breaking his leg, with the Merco Cycling Classic being his first race in 11 months. Chilcott was “very pleased to see him racing so close to the front and being out there, so it’s going to be a nice story to watch him come back because he’s a big talent, it’s going to be exciting to watch him.” Bookwalter and Miller were both members of the National team and raced in Belgium.

On their second year as professionals, 28-year old McKissick and 27-year old Garcia are both coming out of running, and both “have phenomenal numbers so they know how to train, they have great physiology, they have good physiques for cycling so their goal is to really learn how to race now.”

Bringing in older neo-professionals to the sport is somewhat of a specialty for Chilcott.

Fast tracking older neo-pros

Chilcott has instituted a methodology in his team to address the American culture where people often times go to college or do something else before they get into cycling. “That’s something that we’ve tried to learn and do on this team. Take athletic talent and fast track them to becoming proficient pros.”

He’s found that often he doesn’t have the option of only recruiting twenty-two year old neo-pros like other teams can do in Europe, “so we’ve tried to be proficient at understanding how to be successful with someone that’s twenty-five when they start and that model applies to Nydam, Garcia, McKissick, Galvin, even to some extent Stewart, although Jackson was considerably more experienced when he came to the team.”

The team strategy is to spends more time talking to the older neo-pros, get them access to races that are matched to their specific needs in terms of developing athletes, and take them to races where they have a chance of winning. “But it’s not sufficient to put them in one level of racing all year long, they need to be advancing within a season.”

To accomplish this fast tracking, events are handpicked, riders are matched up as roommates and as teammates on rosters for different races. “People we think are going to confer specific advice and understanding of situations with race dynamics in a way that’s educational.”

Photo by Ken Conley

Just rolling up his sleeves and getting the work done

Chilcott has been active in the bicycle racing community since 1977, was named to the Junior Men’s National Team in 1979 and 1980 and turned pro for Italy’s Selle Italia-Chinol team in 1982 and was one of the forerunners of Americans to ride among the professionals in Europe. He also became one of the first professional mountain bikers in 1987, and also has a PhD in microbiology.

Chilcott had not been around the sport very much for a period of time after stopping as an athlete, and started helping with Team Swift as a volunteer, working with the juniors, some of whom have come to the team such as Miller.

“I sought to create something that was the next step after Team Swift, like an elite team which is how this team started on his first year. But it quickly progressed and sort of floated to the top.”

Chilcott started the team and that “took some rolling up of the sleeves.” Working with his business partner, Charlie Livermore, and a number of advisors that came through the team to help the team stay on track, Chilcott was able to build up the team to a Pro Continental in three years.

“I’ve gotten the work done is really what I bring to the team, I’m the one that’s put the business together and I do have experience as a racer so that helps, and have the benefit of having been in a lot of different teams at different eras within the sport.”

As one of the first American riders to go to Europe as a professional, Chilcott had to distill down what he really needed to succeed. “I think that helps me, I keep things in perspective in terms of ranking priorities and importance of what riders to really succeed.”

The BMC team was successful in the first year in presenting an image that the sponsor liked and that led to larger opportunities in the second year and that cycle was repeated again. In the third year, Chilcott is starting on a new two-year contract that goes through the end of 2009 at even a higher level than the team had last year.

“So we’re advancing, and that will continue. All indications are that we’ll be able to continue to grow in the foreseeable future and expand our level and amount of races we do in Europe. I think we’re at the point in the US that we have access to all the races that we want to do here.”

2008 season and beyond

The focus of the team is on the big American stage races like Tour of California, Tour de Georgia, Tour of Missouri, the Colorado stage race, Tour of Utah and they plan to use the European races more as an avenue to build depth in people’s experience and to begin building up the team infrastructure in Switzerland.

“We’re establishing a base of operations in Switzerland which is not convenient this year because they are not in the E.U., but they will be next year so that will make that centralized location valuable, all of a sudden we don’t have custom issues and things. It’s a long range plan that I based my decisions on where and when we operate the team.”

The BMC Racing Team achieved the UCI Wildcard label awarded by the UCI, for the 2008 season, which offers the chance to be invited at ProTour races. The label paid off quickly as the team received the only Wildcard invitation to compete in the Tour of Romandie. They have also received an official invitation to compete in the prominent ASO race Critérium International.

These events suit the sporting level of the team, and for Chilcott suited the goals of the sponsors.
“We had a lot of invitations or inquiries as to whether or not we were interested, and we declined because we didn’t feel it suited the team to go to a lot of races just to say we lined up at that race.”

European races are carefully chosen so they fit the calendar, don’t conflict the big American events. “We are an American team and will remain an American team and we have to also support the American events.”

For Chilcott, when his long-term plan is successful, the results will be obvious from the inside but the team may not look that different from the outside. Given the current uncertainty with the Pro Tour, he is not certain that there is going to be any advantages to go to a higher administrative level than Pro Continental.

There’s a lot of finance, business, mechanical support that all contribute to the success of the team at the sport level. “They’re not very obvious when you’re at race day but you see cars and riders on bikes, but you don’t know how they got there, how easy it was for them but those are areas that will see a lot of change in the next few years.”

As part of their long-term plan, the team is committed to clean racing, and works together with the independent and respected ACE (Agency for Cycling Ethics), an international agency, to carry out blood and urine tests throughout the entire year.

The long-term goal can be simply stated. “I think the ideal position to be in would be to be a desired team, a sought-after team at the top level where we would choose the events that best suit the team and then progressively refine and strengthen all the aspects of the workings of the team.”

Photo c Lyne Lamoureux

BMC Racing Team 2008

Brent Bookwalter (USA) 23
Steve Bovay (Switzerland) 24
Tony Cruz (USA) 37
David Galvin (USA) 23
Jonathan Garcia (USA) 27
Martin Kohler (Switzerland) 23
Darren Lill (South Africa) 26
Jeff Louder (USA) 31
Ian McKissick, (USA) 28
Nathan Miller (USA) 23
Alex Moos, (Switzerland) 36
Scott Nydam, (USA) 31
Mike Sayers (USA) 38
Jackson Stewart, (USA) 28
Taylor Tolleson, (USA) 23
Danilo Wyss (Switzerland) 23

See also:

• BMC Racing Team - going up against the big guys at the Tour of California

Victor Hugo Pena comes to Rock Racing after years of riding for teams like, Vitalicio Seguros, U.S. Postal Service, Phonak, and Unibet. He was the first Columbian rider ever to wear the Maillot Jaune in the Tour de France, wearing the yellow jersey for three days in 2003. In 2000, he won stage 11 of the Giro d’Italia.

Photo by Ken Conley

Pena finished the 2008 Amgen Tour of California in a very respectable 12th place. We sat down with Pena to review the events surrounding Rock Racing in the Tour of California and discuss what’s next for the team.

How do you feel Rock Racing performed in the Tour of California?
I feel we did really well. We missed those guys (Tyler Hamilton, Santiago Botero, and Oscar Sevilla). With those guys we would have put on a big show because they were in really good condition. We had a good race and I am happy about my riding. I did have some problems with my time trial but am still happy with my racing. I was able to climb with the first group…the really hard climbs…I was right there with the climbers. (Pena finished 10th in Stage 3 of the Amgen Tour of California from Modesto to San Jose, California). This made me feel like I was back again. I was really ill last year. Now that I am healthy, I am feeling very good.

I believe in this dream…the dream that Michael Ball has about the new cycling…about the new movement in cycling. I believe that we need to show cycling to the world…to show the racing….to market the sport to the people. I believe in that. I hope to bring a lot of my experiences to this team.

Do you see your role on Rock Racing as a mentor?
I do see that as my role. I am happy to teach the new guys and even the staff, and the mechanics about being on a team. They really do not know how the cycling world works. I see the staff working hard and do what I tell them to do. It’s about teaching them how a cycling team works. It’s really nice to see. I see this team growing and growing. I really see this team becoming one of the premier teams in the world.

How do your personal goals work with Rock Racing?
We have the Tour de Georgia coming up and I am hoping we get an invitation because I want to ride in it. The Tour de Georgia has a team time trial. It would be nice if we could ride this. I am looking to not only ride this race but win this for my team. I can climb…my climbing will be even better for this race. We shall see but I feel good.

Will Hamilton, Botero, and Sevilla be on the Tour de Georgia team? Will they ride for Rock racing this year?
This is still a question mark. We need to know soon. This is difficult for me to understand…it’s frustrating. I don’t know anything about the official rules and I don’t understand how the UCI can say no to these riders. It’s more than affecting the team…it’s affecting our lives. It’s like these guys are being kicked…treated like they are criminals. They have families…they have wives and kids. They are good people. I can tell you that Santi (Botero) is well educated. He went to university and is very smart. These things matter. How these guys are being treated now is difficult for me to understand.

Michael (Ball) wants to talk to the race organizers to see if we can have the full team ride. This is what I want. I want everyone to be able to ride.

This new team is really good. This is another way to view cycling. It’s not only about the speed, about the fastest climber….it’s simply another way to view the race. We try to bring people to see the races….to make it exciting. We want to win races. I am very happy to be part of this team.

I caught up with Astana’s Chris Horner at the Merco Cycling Classic races held on the first weekend of March, in Merced, California.

The 36 year old Horner was just sitting on the sidewalk, finishing up his lunch and cheering on the women, including his girlfriend, racing in the criterium when I sat down and we held an impromptu interview.

Horner finished second in the Merco Cycling Classic Men’s criterium after his pulled his two breakaway companions for a few laps so that the trio could lap the field and set up a chaotic sprint. Getting back to crit riding was not a problem for Horner. “I’ve been a crit rider for my whole life more than anything. If you grew up in the States, that’s what you are, if you don’t ride crits then you don’t make a living.”

Lyne Lamoureux (LL): How are you feeling? (note: Chris was sick in Tour of California like a lot of riders)
Chris Horner (CH): Not as sick as I was anyways. Still a little sick, not too bad, doing okay. It’s the same, it’s never got really deep in the lungs, it’s there, coughing up some phlegm but it hasn’t affected the breathing a lot, it just causes a lot of coughing.

LL: So why are you in Merced?
CH: I’ve got a month in between California and Vuelta a Castilla y Leon in Spain so it was better to do another here in California because I knew it was going to be sunny here after the Tour of California so I came here, my girlfriend is racing here then I can race two days too and keep the legs a little bit fresher going into Spain.

LL: How was the form going into Tour of California?
CH: It was good, everything considered. I had a lot of problems, I had a knee issue and it was holding my training up a lot but I was down in San Diego since the first of January before (Tour of) California and the weather was really good up until (Tour of) California anyways. Luckily the last week before Tour of California, we had warm weather in San Diego so the knee pains stop and I was doing a lot of acupuncture and stuff and that seemed to help it. Acupuncture seemed to be doing the trick more than anything.

LL: Is this your first time with knee pains?
CH: No, it happens all the time. At the beginning of the season, it’s so normal. But it was a little more than normal or it lasted longer anyways.

Chris Horner - Stage 5, ITT, Tour of California, Photo by Ken Conley

LL: How do you feel about ASO not allowing Astana in the races?
CH: Its’ the wrong way to do it, it’s politics. So they’re letting politics get involved in sports and certainly there is no drug issue related to this team. This is a completely new team, it’s new management, it’s new riders, this is a sponsor that sponsored a team last year and stopped that sponsorship of that team and started a new one. Because we carry the same name they use that as an excuse but it’s politics.

LL: So what does this mean for you personally? It’s impacting your calendar tremendously.
CH: Absolutely affecting a lot of races. I had Paris-Nice, we shouldn’t even be here doing this interview, I should be home for a couple of days and then be flying to Paris-Nice right now and instead I love Paris-Nice, Liège-Bastogne-Liège and Flèche Wallonne and Tour de France. That’s a big part of my program.

I am affected by this, one of the most. Some of the classics guys lost Paris-Roubaix and that’s a big impact, but that’s one day of racing. I lost 20, 30 plus days of racing or so, yeah that’s a big hole. But there are still a lot of good races, Tour of Suisse, Pays-Basque which is one of the best stage races in Spain and then Romandie and of course I got to do Tour of California too so….

LL: How do you stay motivated with all this going on?
CH: It’s not hard, staying motivated. I’m still doing Tour of Suisse, I’m still doing a bunch of good races. Without a doubt, I’d like to do the Tour again but it is what it is. It’s not too bad of a lifestyle to tell you the truth (chuckles), doing just California, Tour of Suisse, Pays-Basque and stuff like that, it’s a good program to stay motivated for so. But it does change… it does change when I’m flying out and when I’m flying back so it does change a bunch of things that way. So mentally you have to readjust.

LL: So, you’re not a young guy anymore….
CH: Yeah, I’m one of the old dudes (laughs)

LL: So how many more years do you want to keep on doing this?
CH: Two or three in Europe maybe. Maybe some back here in the States. I enjoy racing in the States. It would be nice to come back and race a couple of years back in the States so… I could be pretty far from retiring that’s for certain, but definitely I’m not far from being old (laughs) but I’m still kind of far from retiring but we’ll see.

LL: So age is relative.
CH: Yeah, it’s all relative. It would be nice to get two years in Europe, this year and next year. After that I’m not certain, but two would be good. I’d like to be home too and race in the States, I can keep on racing my bike and see my family more too.

LL: Tell me how hard it was for you to adjust when going to Europe
CH: It was a huge adjustment. Really I try not to adjust, I try to live the same lifestyle over there that I do here. I really do. I gave up trying to adjust a long time ago. When I did three years with Francaise des Jeux and I couldn’t adjust to the culture and language and just the lifestyle in general was too hard. Now I don’t adjust. I just go over there and I bring my computer and my movies and I have my cell phone, I have my own place over there and a car, so you have to a little bit, but I don’t have to adjust too much because when I have big blocks of time off, I fly back to the States. I think what makes someone very good at their jobs is knowing their limitations of what they can and can’t do. And I think one of my limitations is I can’t adjust living in Europe, so I know not to spend too much time there.

LL: What about food, especially as you are known for liking your burgers?
CH: (laughs) It’s hard to adjust that way. That is a difficult thing, but it’s not impossible. The food is probably one of the easier thing to adjust to, with the exception of when you’re racing and you’re at a hotel, because sometimes they don’t feed you too good in those places but aside from that, eating in Spain, the food is really good and you can find something to eat for sure.

LL: Have you noticed any changes in the racing in the US?
CH: It looks like it’s still the same. You have a handful, five, six big teams racing against each other, battling. Last year it looks like the competition was pretty deep and not one team dominated it all maybe it will be a bit different, but last year looked to me that way, at least on paper anyways. No one dominant rider, so a lot of teams sharing the victories. Looks like the pay is pretty decent in the States from what it’s been in the past, that might have changed a little bit. But aside from that I’d say it’s pretty status quo, it’s healthy but it could be better at times and it seems that one good race comes, and one good race goes.

There’s always just that handful of good races in the States. If you look at just when my career started, if all those good races were still around, you wouldn’t have to race in Europe, you could just stay here in the States, you’d be doing stuff like Tour of California every week.

LL: So do you think it will ever settle down in Europe, the UCI vs ASO?
CH: It has to, it really has to. There has to be, they have to allow x amount of teams guaranteed into the Tour de France because that’s the way you can go find the big sponsors. So, if you have, let’s just say the number is 15 instead of 20 like it was - it should be 20 in my book but you know there’s always difference of opinions – so let’s just say it’s 15 but there has to be a number that they guarantee to allow to be in the Tour de France because that’s the way you go get the big sponsors. But if you look at last year, Unibet, that was a good sponsor, it’s thirty jobs for riders, it’s 50 to 60 jobs total, now that sponsor is gone. Why are they gone? They weren’t guaranteed a spot in the Tour. That sponsor wasted all his money during the year, he didn’t get the races that he wanted and so that sponsor is gone. Now you have Gerolsteiner, their sponsorship is up this year and they have to find a new sponsor so they’re going to look for a new sponsor and they can’t guarantee a spot in the Tour, how do they ask for fifteen million?

You have Astana that had a really bad year last year, there’s no denying that, they had a lot of problems, but the sponsor changed everything with the team but stayed in the sport and is employing a lot of cyclists and a lot of people in the sport and now they’re not guaranteed a spot in the Tour, we probably won’t go and so how do you tell them, stay around for a few more years because this part is great.

So these are problems that have to be taken care of and they can get taken care so quickly but none of the riders will stay together, none of the teams will stay together and whatever team got into the Tour de France because they got our spot, they’re just happy to be there, and the big teams that are in there, are just happy to be there. As long as the teams don’t stay together, the riders don’t stay together then there’s never going to be…. it will never be the NFL.

LL: Will the riders ever get together?
CH: Some day they will. There has to be some kind of union at the very least. But right now, to be honest, one rider is happy to make 10 Euros more than the next, and as long as you’re happy to only make 10 Euros instead of ten thousands or hundred thousands or something like that because all the riders could be paid better, all the teams could have better financial support and could find bigger sponsors if they run the sport better. But as long as they keep running the sport the way they are, the things going on will continue to go on.

LL: It was very tough last year with the contracts…
CH: Yeah, by the skin of my teeth, I had a great season last year and I was really stubborn, I refused to sign for less than the minimum of what I thought I was worth and I’m telling the readers that I was signed for the minimum of what I was worth and I refused to take less and I was going to come back to the States if I couldn’t find anything. And then luckily, Johan (Bruyneel) came through really big time for me and he got me the money that I wanted on a team that I wanted to be on. But it was last minute, that was laaaast minute. The riders are funny because, as long as they keep fighting like they are, not being as one, what’s really going to suffer is that next year you’re going to have two teams possibly not in the sport and then you’re going to have another 60 riders unemployed. Even the ones who do get jobs are going to get less of what they could have gotten and then a lot of guys won’t get jobs at all.

That’s what the riders have to realize, everybody that has a job right now is happy but they can’t see that next year they might not have one. And they certainly can’t see two or three years down the line.

LL: Everybody keeps repeating that there’s no money in the sport….
CH: If the organizers start looking at it like a business… I mean I can’t believe at this point that the Tour de France, just the TV people don’t go up to the ASO organizers and go ‘no, we’re not going to have this, Astana will be in the race’. TV in general , just the people who are going to advertise are going to loose viewing people out of this. So why does one sponsor want to throw in a couple of million dollars to sponsor something on tv when there are half the spectators watching it because the Astana team didn’t get in. Because this is the most dominant Tour de France team for awhile, you can’t argue with Lance Armstrong, and this team is every bit as good as his team was in the past and of course, it’s run by the same guy so there’s probably a reason for that. It’s crazy to pull this team out, it just doesn’t make any sense. There’s no justification for it whatsoever, this is a new team.

LL: With all this going on, are you still enjoying riding?
CH: You kidding me (laughs) All this crap has been there all my career, this is nothing new. For the first ten years of my career, I tried to do the Tour de France and always missed it for one reason or another. And then luckily, I got to do it three times. And now I’m going to miss it for a dumb reason. I had opportunities with Mercury to do the Tour de France, and that team really should have gone, and they didn’t go. I had opportunities with Francaise des Jeux to go, and the first year I wasn’t fit, the second year I was injured and the third year I had a baby due, so I missed it for those. Then I got stuck riding in the States for more years that I really wanted to do, just because no one had any faith that I could go back over and ride in Europe. And then I get over to Europe and now we’re back to having problems again. But this is nothing for me, I’ve done my whole career with some kind of drama or another attached to it.

Chris Horner having fun at the Merco Cycling Classic Crit, Photo by Lyne Lamoureux

We first saw Anna Lang race in the Manhattan Beach Grand Prix last summer. She placed fifth behind a talented sprinting field. A few days later we caught up with Lang at the Women’s Road Criterium race during the Infineon Cougar Mountain Classic where she crushed the field in a hard sprint finish. Lang was a solo rider battling multi-rider teams from Webcor Builders, PROMAN/Paradigm and Cheerwine, which made her victory even more impressive. Although fairly new to the professional women’s road schedule, Anna Lang has impressed many.

Lang began her cycling career as an undergrad at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. “I was always athletic. It took collegiate racing to get into riding,” Lang stated. “My sophomore year, I wanted the discipline and the team atmosphere, I heard about the triathlon club. They had a coach and regular practice times. I did triathlons and it was just okay. It was pretty straight forward and actually kind of boring. Through the triathlon club I heard about the cycling club. They were just bad asses…very good. As a club team I was simply able to join. I did a mountain bike championship in San Diego. I did the B category downhill and won. I got down and thought, ‘This is so cool!’ I fell in love with it. A couple of months later the road season started. I got a road bike. I remember telling my friend that for the first time I can see doing this until the day I die.There was a love there immediately.”

After graduation, Anna began a new job and didn’t train or race very much. “I hadn’t really jumped the ranks from collegiate and was planning on driving around to race and then September 11th happened and I ended up staying home and got a great engineering job.”

She worked for two years as a structural design consultant at a leading engineering firm designing multi-million-dollar homes in the San Francisco Bay area. However, a trip to Mexico motivated her to go back to school to get an advanced degree. “On the engineering side…it wasn’t really fulfilling,” Lang commented. “I wanted to make a bigger contribution.”

“When I made the decision to go to grad school I found out that they had a track. People had always told me that I would be good at track. I tried it. First year of grad school was ridiculous so I rode twice a month on my road bike and did a handful of collegiate races. The track team was pretty solid. I finished school on June 16^th and I was at the track the next day. I trained and I loved it. At first I was training for pursuit. I was really good at time trialing at Cal Poly. Though I liked training for the pursuit my 500m time was dropping. I switched coach and have been training for sprints for three years now. He put me in the crit scene last year. He told me that he wanted to make me a better athlete first and then to make me a better racer. He wanted me to enter every and all races to get the experience. That’s why we did crits last year. It was a secondary thing to my track. It was done only to supplement my track racing. At my first crit….I got out there and thought I am either not going to finish the race or I am going to win….there really was no in between. If I am able to get to the line I will out sprint everyone in the field. Sure enough I jumped and sprinted.”

Lang further commented about her coach. “I’m well aware of Mark’s (Whitehead) controversial reputation, but that is simply not the person I know and worked closely with for two years. He is a deeply dedicated, talented, and passionate coach and individual. I have the utmost respect for his coaching ability and for what he accomplished as a racer in the 70’s and 80’s. Frankly, I wouldn’t be where I am without him. Mark saw my ability to sprint and to ride crits, and he fostered those talents. I believe it takes a unique personality to coach female athletes, particularly at the elite level, and he possesses that. Mark simply knows what it takes to make someone the best possible racer. An athlete sacrifices so much to achieve results; they put their heart and soul into it. You must trust your coach in order to reach your god-determined potential; that’s a heavy burden! But I wouldn’t invest that trust with anyone else in the U.S.; he is the best.”

Lang has continued to combine her track racing passion with her new road career. “I have seen a huge improvement by combining the two. A lot of track sprinters do not like the speed of the peloton. I think because I started road racing in college, I knew how to ride crits plus I am getting the speed training from track. Combining the two has been awesome. My coach has even been considering the points race now too. The level of fitness that I had last year was the best I ever had. I was still able to maintain my sprint and my 200m time was dropping. It was not taking away from sprints. There is often a black and white training mentality. I am somewhere in the middle and my coach has done a fantastic job of identifying the talent I have and nourishing it. I am somewhere in the middle and really do not want to be pigeon holed. Road has taken more of a forefront now. I’ll race a handful of track races in the summer but I will be getting into my road schedule. I am still training on the track. Track remains an integral part of my road racing and my sprint.”

With her road and track successes in 2007, Lang decided to test the waters of possibly joining a professional women’s road team. “I did send my resume to a lot of teams. I knew what I wanted and I knew I did not want to be pigeon holed. I know I have to pay my dues and I know I have a lot to earn but I also know that I can win races. I wanted to be at a place where I could be myself and where I was wanted I was so enchanted with the idea of going pro. I just knew what I wanted…I knew what I could do…I knew what I could do alone out on the peloton and I knew I could do it again and better. So it was not like I had to be on a team in order to make it. I wasn’t sold on that idea. I also wanted to maintain school and my schedule. I wanted to be with a team that work with me and my schedule.”

With a suggestion by a colleague, Lang decided to contact Aaron’s Professional Women’s Cycling Team. “Carmen (D’Aluisio) called me back. She said she had been looking for ways to contact me. She had her eye on me. We had a long talk and what convinced me was that she would allow me to be who I am. She was looking for a true sprinter. When Laura Van Gilder or Tina Pic is in the race, the peloton immediately starts racing for second place. I don’t have that problem. I am going to jump in and attack. I just see them as another competitor that I want to beat. I am ready now. The engineering side of me looks at it and I have seen these girls, I’ve seen their 500 and 200 times and I am a lot faster. If I can get to the line, deductively I should be able to beat them….that’s what I saw in my head. Maybe that’s been my source of confidence.”

As for her goals for 2008, Lang stated, “Number one….I am new to the team dynamic. There is lot I have to learn. I want a better understanding of how I am going to fit in but I really want to win races. I don’t want to step on toes but I do want to win races. There is so much firepower on this team. I think there are a lot of different ways we’ll be able to win races. What ever group I am in…I want to win.”

However, Lang’s passion for track is never far behind. “I had some good success on the track last summer. I beat Jenny Reed a couple of times and showing some good strength and speed. I had bad luck at the Track Nationals. I crashed pretty bad on the keirin. It shook me up. I went down hard and hit my head. I got back up and did the scratch race…which is the best thing I could have done. 2012 track in the Olympics is definitely something I am targeting.”

All photos copyright Stephanie Gutowski

On the eve of the start of the Classics season, 34 year old Roger Hammond is embarking on his eight season as a professional cyclist. He started his career winning a Junior World Title in cross racing, and since then, he has been two-time British Road Champion, three-time British cyclocross champion (2004, 2006 and 2008) and has proven to be a great classics rider with a second place at Ghent-Wevelgem in 2007, and a third place in Paris-Roubaix in 2004.

After four year with Continental teams, in 2005 Hammond rode for the Discovery Channel team in crashed-marred two years. He then moved onto the T-Mobile team in 2007,and Hammond stayed with the team when it established its new direction of clean and fair sport and new name Team High Road for the 2008 season.

Hammond loves the Classics and still dreams of conquering the Hell of the North, Paris-Roubaix. We caught up with a relaxed Hammond on a sunny day during the Team High Road training camp in San Luis Obispo, California.

Hammond enjoys the friendly mood of the team and considers that the goal of riding clean helps in bringing people together. “We have this strong common goal and it brings the riders closer together, take away winning bike races because everybody has got different motivations, different ambitions in winning bike races so it’s not a common goal but the anti-doping is a very strong common goal.”

As a veteran, Hammond quipped that his role was to “keep the young lads in line.” Team owner Bob Stapleton laughingly agreed that Hammond “wasn’t far off” with his take of his role on the team where 20 men and women are under the age of 25.

For Hammond, cycling is like Formula 1, where very rarely does a new driver come in to win a race, a rider needs to learn a lot, and that winning is not just about being strong. He feels that he can show a lot to the young riders on the team.

“I’ve got 14 years of mistakes that I’ve made and hopefully if I can save the young riders from making my mistakes and reduces the number of mistakes that they’ll make in their careers and I think that’s very important, you need it in a team.”

He explained that it takes more than talent to win the big races. “I think you saw with our results last year in the big one day Classics, it was the older riders that were there, and it takes quite a good deal of experience and knowledge to ride those races.”

Experience counts and learning from racing in the Classics is very important. “Tour of Flanders you change directions five hundred million times in a race, so unless you’ve done it. It’s a great race to ride, it can be the greatest in the world and the most frustrating thing in life and Roubaix is the same.”

Saving energy is the way to win the Classics. “The first time I did Roubaix I wasted so much energy just fighting for the wrong section of cobbles, the first year, I was eighteenth but absolutely dead. the second year, I went I was third and it just shows you how much you can learn in one year, just by riding it once.”

“And then you gain that experience each year, more and more experience and you can refine your efforts and that is how you win Classics. It’s not be being ten times better than anybody else, it’s by saving energy and not wasting it.”

When asked about his favorite Classics, Hammond easily answered that it had to be Paris-Roubaix. “Right from the beginning to the end, I just have fun, I enjoy them.”

He doesn’t like the nasty weather that often occurs during the Belgian Classics, but uses it to his advantage. “I don’t think anybody likes it, it’s just some people go better in it. And when it’s nasty weather, I can eliminate about fifty percent of the peloton and that’s the way I look at it.”

Hammond is starting his season focusing on “the one day classics so I’m just saving for those races”, and is hoping that Team High Road gets an invitation to his favorite Paris-Roubaix.

He has not decided about the Olympic Games yet, as the circuit favors climbers. “So I’m not really sure how much emphasis I’ll put on it, well we’ll just have to see how it goes, it just depends how I’m climbing later on we’ll have a look.”

Roger Hammond and George Hincapie at the 2007 World Championship in Stuttgart, Germany

By Stephanie Gutowski

Chechu Rubiera has had quite an amazing career beginning in 1995 with Artiach. He had his first major win at the Giro d’Italia as a young Kelme rider in 1997. He turned down a Cofidis offer to ride for US Postal Services and Lance Armstrong in 2001. He rode with Armstrong in US Postal Services and Discovery Channel. Rubiera will now ride his final year with Astana. Rubiera has decided to retire at the end of this season. RoadBikeReview caught up with this incredible climber in Palo Alto.

I last saw you race, here in the States, at the San Francisco Grand Prix….
I love that race!! It’s a pity they do not do that race anymore. For me that race was the nicest race of the season. It was so wonderful. The course was fun, the nice weather, the beautiful city and the atmosphere was great. It was at the end of the season so there was no pressure. We all enjoyed that race.

How did the decision to go to Astana work out? Did you wait for Astana?
I did not wait. The fact is I did not have an offer. I had been in touch with Rock Racing and a few weeks later Johan called me. What I wanted to do was to race one more year and then stop. It’s good to stop when you want to stop.
Read the rest of this entry »

The Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast pro cycling team is starting its sophomore year with US Olympian and 25-time US national champion Jonas Carney at the helm. In the summer of 2007, the team became the only first year team in US cycling history to win the overall at the USPRO Criterium Championships at Downer’s Grove Illinois. The team finished the season strong by having riders on podiums throughout the last part of the season.

Redlands 2007

The 2008 roster sees five new athletes added to the team: Andrew Bajadali, winner of the 2007 Redlands Classic, Alex Candelario, winner of the Tour de Nez 2007, Brian Bucholz in his first year as a pro, and the fastest young riders on either side of the North American border: Ben King Junior National TT and road race champion and U23 Canadian Time Trial Champion David Veilleux. Returning for a second year with the squad are Jonny Sundt, Dan Bowman, Reid Mumford, Justin Spinelli, Nick Waite, Martin Gilbert and Keven Lacombe, both from Canada.

The team chose to have a low-key beginning of the season and postponed the full team training camp including the traditional official photo shoots so the Tour of California squad could focus on getting ready for the big race.

During their short training camp in Oxnard, California, Jonas Carney provided insight into his team before the start of the 2008 season.

Building a foundation and adding horsepower

The team had a late start in its first year, as they were not able to hire the riders until the end of October which made it challenging. But for Carney, “it was a good process because we were able to seek out some great talent that needed some opportunity.”

For the 2008 season, they moved quickly to recruit the riders; as early as June, Carney was having serious conversation with some of the riders that made the team, and developed a new philosophy for the direction of the team.

“We had an awesome group of guys last year and we kept the majority, kept I think 8 of the 11 riders from last year and we brought 5 new on. One thing is that we wanted a larger roster, 13 instead of 11 and then we changed the philosophy a little bit, as far as what we are trying to build.”

The first year was just about having a good year and Carney was focused on building a foundation. The goal is to build a backbone so the team can expand, and then based on the successes and shortcomings of the team, Carney came up with “the idea of the style of team that we wanted to build.”

“We are this year, focused more on power and speed. For the American style of racing, and the type of things that we succeeded last year, the things that we did the best is what we wanted to build on.”

The roster additions were strategic “as far as hiring riders that time trial very well but also race criterium very well and are able not only be contenders in a general classification of a race because they time trial well, but also powerful riders that can handle their bikes well in criteriums. We have three field sprinters, that was a major goal for us to be able to win lots of races this year in field sprints.”

The first season was a learning experience, Carney learned quite a bit about what makes the team tick. “We had great camaraderie and a really positive atmosphere on the team last year and I was really happy with the way that came together. That comes from all, it’s not just the riders, but it’s the staff and the sponsors as well, we have a great atmosphere, it feels like a family.”

With a limited budget, the only way for Carney to win races is to have the correct atmosphere and the riders willing to sacrifice for each other. That can be a difficult thing to create when a team doesn’t have a lot money to hire star riders, so “you have to find the right types of characters and we did a good job of hiring the riders last year.”

“I was an incredibly happy with all the guys and the teamwork was incredible and the atmosphere was great so that’s why we kept the majority of the team because we didn’t have to change much but it was just adding a little bit more horsepower. “

Unlike a lot of other teams, “we have a great group of sponsors, we actually have 5 sponsors that are from outside the cycling industry.” Having multiple sponsors provides the stability to look ahead a few years, “I see much more longevity with this program than others and personally I’m looking ahead maybe one or two years.”

Carney hopes that the team grows enough in the next 3 years, that roster of riders also grows and that the riders don’t outgrow the team because “having those kinds of talent they could easily, if we stay where we are, they could easily outgrow the team and would want to move on to something bigger and so we just want to get bigger and faster every year but not an incredible leap in one season.”

“I think we made a good step for 2008 and then again, we’ll try to make a big step for 2009 but not, we don’t want to overstep our bounds we want to take our time.”

Hiring North-American riders and the French-Canadian connection

Carney takes a lot of price in recruiting riders, and he doesn’t hire outside of North America, and so far has no plans top change that hiring practice.

“I get a lot of resumes from overseas and those resumes look really good and those riders don’t cost a lot of money but the fact is I don’t want to jeopardize what we are trying to build and so I’m pretty picky in who all I welcome into the team. It’s not just based on resumes, a lot of it has to do with personalities and having references for these guys.”

The Quebec connection really started when Carney was working for the Kodak Gallery/Sierra Nevada team, and got to know the Quebecois riders on the team Martin Gilbert and Dominique Perras.

Carney was “impressed with Martin’s talent and potential as a sprinter.” As a sprinter himself, he saw something in him and it worked out that they were able to bring the duo over, very late, in mid-November 2006, and that was the beginning of the connection.

Carney works on recruiting all season and seeks out certain riders. He tried to bring three-time Canadian U23 champion David Veilleux on the team last year, but Veilleux decided to stay with Jittery Joe’s. Keven Lacombe was also in Carney’s sights, but Lacombe took some time to recover from a broken femur and then joined the team in mid-season last year.

“For me, a big part of our team is the young riders and we have probably the strongest group of young riders of any team in America, our three youngest guys are probably three of the most talented people that you’ll ever see. “

Carney has found that most young American riders, between the ages of 18 to 20 years old, to either to the US National Team or they ride for Slipstream, which makes it “difficult to recruit the best of the best young American riders.”

For Canadians, it they are from British Columbia, they typically sign for the Symmetrics team, and Carney “just been lucky enough to come into contact with riders like David Veilleux and Martin Gilbert and Keven Lacombe, Mark Hinnen. We have some incredible talent from that area, and I think we have a good environment for those guys too.”

Carney likes to recruit young riders with the expectation that they’ll be around for a long time, rather than just buying “new talent every year, I want to bring it up through the ranks of our team and there’s no better way to do that than to just bring in the best young guys and provide them with a positive environment.”

Looking forwards to the 2008 season

With a well-rounded squad build around a sprinting core, the team is focusing its energies on the races that are important to the sponsors, such as Tour of California, Tour de Georgia , Philly Week, all the major events in North America.

The second focus for the team are the mid-Atlantic races, with the two biggest sponsors Kelly Benefit Strategies and Medifast based our of Baltimore, “anything in the mid-Atlantic region or even on the East Coast is going to be a priority for us.”

For Carney, the USA Pro Cycling Tour calendar is a good schedule for is because of the big, large number of races that are on the Atlantic, and will not be paying much attention to the National Racing Calendar (NRC) races.

Carney’s personal goal is “that I want to have a much better season that we had last year and there are a few races that we are going to target but the goal in general is to win a lot of races.”

Last season, the team raced two International UCI races, the FBD Insurance Ras in Ireland and the Vuelta a Chihuahua in Mexico. Carney is hoping to repeat the international experience this season, with the Tour of South Africa scheduled in March, and they are currently entertaining some invitations for other races but nothing has been decided yet.

“Because the NRC doesn’t mean much to us there are some fairly large gaps in the calendar where, for example, there are periods where there are no UCI races in America, I think we get more benefit doing international events because longer races, more stages and the experience of racing against different competition.”

Carney sees the international experience as a draw for the riders, as “the guys get pretty excited about racing internationally against some pretty big teams.”

Rather than flying all the way to the west coast to do an NRC race, transporting all the vehicles and spending an amount of money to do a race that doesn’t benefit some of his sponsors as much, Carney sees more benefit in doing international events because of the longer races, more stages and the experience of racing against different competition. “It’s a great experience for all the riders on the team to travel internationally, gain the experience of racing against different competition, sometimes more difficult competition, sometimes no.”

In Carney’s opinion, “the NRC calendar could use quite a bit of revamping but we’re lucky to have another calendar, the USA Cycling Pro Tour calendar is actually a great calendar and that’s what we are going to look at.”

With their sponsors based out of the Baltimore and Minneapolis areas, it is better for the team to stay on the east coast and concentrate on wining races in our sponsors’ market.

“The NRC calendar is extremely expensive to chase because the races are scattered all over the country and the schedule is not set up very well at all. If we had a larger budget, and bigger staff and more vehicles, it would be easier but the driving the trailer and the van back & forth across the country all throughout the year is taxing on the staff, it’s taxing on the budget.”

Tour of California

Carney picked the team early on, as he just didn’t feel it was appropriate to have the guys coming into camp and having to race each other for their spots so he did my best to pick the team based on the courses at the Tour of California.

The roster includes Andrew Bajadali, Alex Candelario, Keven Lacombe, Dan Bowman and Jonny Sundt plus three riders injured in 2007 and now racing stronger and faster: Reid Mumford, Justin Spinelli and Nick Waite.

“We have two field sprinters, Keven and Alex, everyone else is for the most part is the sturdiest, most experienced kind of stage racers.. the courses are so hard I had to go in that direction with it. Jonny is a warrior, he’s very good at these races. I haven’t seen him as fit as he is right now, he’s really riled up that he’s going to have his best season ever, he has a lot of experiences racing in these big stage races.”

The team is going to go out there and be aggressive on every stage. “For a continental team, it’s going to be a tough race, it’s a hard race for any continental team but we’re going in there to try and make a mark and we’re going to be really aggressive and we’re not going to follow, and try to make our mark instead of trying to follow the big ProTour teams and be intimidated, we’re going to go on the offense.”

With a strong sprinter core, the team likes the first two stages with a good change of field sprint finishes. The fourth stage, Seaside to San Luis Obispo, is also in the cross hairs with a possibility of a field sprint finish, “ if there isn’t bad weather and wind.”

Then there is the third stage, the Modesto to San Jose stage. “Then obviously the third road stage is the hardest stage probably the one that will decide the general classification.”

“It’s going to be much harder than years past because in years past you could just get to the bottom of Sierra grade and then ride it in whereas there is going to be that whole extra climb which is big leading into Sierra grade. The one thing I noticed is just that the descent between the two climbs, there’s almost no flat and there’s almost no straight road in between the two climbs and so it’s very technical, fast, dangerous descent between the two climbs and it’s a very long stretch of road.”

The seventh and final stage, Santa Clarita to Pasadena, is “the big mystery, it’s the one that I don’t know, I heard that it’s going to be much harder, they’ve done the circuit racing longer, it’s got quite a bit of altitude , that’s the one big mystery stage.”

The team is ready for the Tour of California challenge under the guidance of Jonas Carney and newly appointed performance manager Ken Mills.

“Our team is going to race aggressively and I think it’s the style of riders that we have and it’s the way that I like my team to race is not to sit back and let other people animate, we want to animate.”

The 2008 Kelly Benefit Strategies/Medifast team roster includes:

Andrew Bajadali
Dan Bowman
Brian Buchholz
Alex Candelario
Martin Gilbert
Mark Hinnen
Ben King
Keven Lacombe
Reid Mumford
Justin Spinelli
Jonny Sundt
David Veilleux
Nick Waite