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

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 6th, 2008 at 5:15 pm and is filed under Toyota United. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.