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Straight Outta PROvo...

Blogging is so '06. Blog-quitting is this years' blogging.
Toyota/ United Pro Announces

I think mostly people already know about this, but it's nice to see it official...The real question is whether Todd thinks this is a legit pro team or not.  Kidding...

 

NEW YORK, NY, February 7, 2006 - Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., (NYSE: TM) and United Pro Cycling Team, LLC, today announced an exclusive partnership to launch the premier U.S. based professional cycling team, Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team (TUC).  The announcement made today in New York City, was attended by dignitaries including team Owner Sean Tucker, Team Directors Frankie Andreu and Harm Jansen, Toyota Motor Sales, USA, Inc. Senior Planner for Corporate Marketing Jennifer Savary and New York City Sports Commissioner Ken Podziba.

“We are pleased to welcome the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team to New York City,” said Commissioner Podziba. “New York City has a storied tradition within the sport of cycling dating back to the original Madison Square Garden, which was home to numerous indoor cycling races as well as the City’s first six-day race in 1891.  I wish the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team the best of luck in their inaugural season and in Bike New York’s 2006 Five Borough Bike Tour.”

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is comprised of former Olympians, World and National champions from seven different countries including 2005 USPRO Road Champion Chris Wherry; 2005 U.S. Time Trial Champion Chris Baldwin; former U.S. Olympian Tony Cruz; Pan Am Games Champion Ivan Dominguez; Serbian National Champion Ivan Stevic, and four-time Argentinean National Champion Juan Jose Haedo.  The team will compete domestically in the U.S. during its inaugural 2006 season and will make its official racing debut on February 19th at the Amgen Tour of California.    

“We are proud to enter into a multi-year deal with Toyota to build a world-class cycling organization,” said Sean Tucker, Team Owner.  “We’ve assembled one of the best teams in North America with talented athletes, and experienced management.   Together we are poised to make history, build champions and impact the landscape of cycling in the U.S.”

In addition to being the team’s Title Sponsor, Toyota will be the exclusive truck and car sponsor of TUC.  The leading automaker will also provide marketing, advertising and promotional support.   The multi-year deal marks Toyota’s first-ever sponsorship of a domestic pro road cycling team and is the largest deal ever signed for a domestic team in North America.  

“We’re very excited to support the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team because they bring so much passion to the sport,” said Jim Farley, Toyota’s Vice President of Marketing. “Cycling is about always moving forward and improving on everything you do.  At Toyota we can absolutely relate to that and our new RAV4 is the perfect example.  It’s completely re-designed and is bigger and more powerful for anyone who needs to haul their bike and gear.  We think this partnership is an ideal way to showcase Toyota’s commitment to helping people pursue their goals for a healthy lifestyle."

TUC’s other sponsors include Bicycling Magazine, Cendant Hotel Group, United Bicycles, Easton Sports, Shimano, OS Performance Nutrition, Tifosi Optics, Champion System and SockGuy.

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling team will be jointly managed by Team Directors Frankie Andreu and Harm Jansen.  Andreu, a 1999-2000 team captain of the U.S. Postal Service Team and Director of U.S. Racing in 2001-2002, brings over 18 years of riding and management experience to TUC.  Andreu is the current American record holder for the most consecutive Tour de France finishes with nine (9).  He is also a cycling commentator for the Outdoor Life Network.    Harm Jansen is a former USPRO Champion and Dutch National Champion with well over 100 career victories. Jansen raced full-time for 17 years, racing on the professional circuit in the U.S. for last 8 years of his career. He has also coached cyclists for the past 10 years, including several of the top professionals in the U.S.    Both Andreu and Jansen will handle day-to-day team operations, racing schedules and will manage the team on the road.

The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team roster includes 17 pro cyclists fresh from their first training camp together held last week in Thousand Oaks, CA:

Chris Wherry (U.S.) – Formerly of Health Net-Maxxis

Tony Cruz (U.S.).   – Formerly of Discovery Channel

Chris Baldwin (U.S.) – Formerly of Navigators Insurance

Bobby Lea (U.S.) – Formerly of Team Northwestern Mortgage

Ivan Dominguez (Cuba) – Formerly of Health Net-Maxxis

Juan Jose Haedo (Argentina) – Formerly of Colavita / Sutter Home

Ivan Stevic (Serbia) – Formerly of Aerospace Engineering

Justin England (U.S.) – Formerly of Health Net-Maxxis

Heath Blackgrove (New Zealand) – Formerly of Beveren, Belgium

Jose Manuel Garcia (Mexico) – Formerly of Maxxis-MSC

Mariano Friedick (U.S.) – Formerly of Jelly Belly-Pool Gel

Stefano Barberi (U.S.) – Formerly of TIAA CREF

Sterling Magnell (U.S.) – Formerly of Team Monex

Derek Wilkerson (U.S.) – Formerly of Colavita / Sutter Home

Josh Thornton (U.S.) – Formerly of Neptune / Fuji

Sean Sullivan (Tasmania) – Formerly of Team Barloworld, South Africa

Chris Stockburger (USA) – Formerly of USA National Team

 

The team’s North American racing schedule, beginning with the inaugural Amgen Tour of California will include the Pro Cycling Tour (the premier professional cycling series in the U.S.), and the USA Cycling National Racing Calendar (NRC), featuring over 70 races in 2006.  The Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team is sanctioned by USA CYCLING, the national governing body of professional cycling and Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), the International governing body of professional cycling.                                                                        

United-Pro Cycling Team was founded by Tucker in 2005, a lifelong entrepreneur and former professional cyclist.  Merging his passion for cycling with business acumen, Tucker partnered with Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A, Inc. to create the Toyota-United Pro Cycling Team, developing a fan membership and sponsor-based business model for the sport in the process.  The new model marks a monumental change for the industry. It’s structured in a manner similar to the fan-inclusive models of NASCAR and Formula 1 where each team is its own individual brand, supported by a strong corporate partner.  Fans of the sport have the added opportunity to develop a long-term relationship and support the team by subscribing for membership.

Posted: Tuesday, February 07, 2006 4:01 PM by Ryan Barrett

Comments

thage said:

Yes. This is a Pro Team. Old school style. Alot of veterens with proven results and a ton of victories, with a few newbies to keep things fresh. I say "well done". But you see who the directors are, Frankie and Harm, Old Schoolers.

Can you see the difference?
# February 7, 2006 10:45 AM

Ryan Barrett said:

Yeah, I see the difference between a $10mill/3 year deal and a $200K/1 year deal. So if I see it right old school= big forking cash. Thanks for clearing that up.
I want to be old school.
# February 7, 2006 2:22 PM

Ryan Barrett said:

PS- but if you only let $10 million teams (or even $1million) in, there will only be 40 guys at USPro.
# February 7, 2006 2:32 PM

Ryan Barrett said:

PSS- Yes, I always get the last word on my blog...
# February 7, 2006 3:11 PM

thage said:

No, you open up the USPRO to all Elite riders like the rest of the world does. Plus the US has by far the most number of "pro" teams in the world. That seems a bit silly doesn't it? The US has 14 Continental teams (not Pro Conti like Navigators). Italy has 2, France has 2, Spain: 5, Russia 3,Germany 8, Belgium 10.
Check mate!

Since I have you going old school, please erase all the music on your ipod and fill it with Depeche Mode, PIL, the Pixies, the Smiths and throw in a little Nitzer Ebb and Ministry for when you need that little extra bump up.
# February 7, 2006 3:54 PM

Ryan Barrett said:

The rest of the world does not open their championship to all "elite" riders...We can argue about the definition of that sometime too. I think most have a National Title, and an Elite W/O Contract Title. Similarly, we have USPro and Amateur (ok, ok Elite, because guys don't want to admit that they are amateur) Natz.
Master's is where its at anyway. Hahaha.
Regarding your "old school" musical selections... If that's what it takes to be old school, count me out. I don't know Nitzer Ebb from Elmer Fudd, but the rest make me want to pull the covers over my head and only leave the bed to reapply my makeup.
# February 8, 2006 7:22 AM

Ryan Barrett said:

I did put Minor Threat on the ipod last week, and I figure that's as old school as I'm gonna get.
# February 8, 2006 8:11 AM

thage said:

I may have to put a stop to this online affair unless you brush up on your early 90's industrial rock. Nitzer Ebb was the shizat for my freshman year in college.
Anyways to defend my bike racing utopia, old school style.
(Que: dream sequence fade)
You have a combined Nationals (combined with and w.o contract) .Some european countries do this). But before you do that you have to reign in the Cat.1 upgrade that comes with redeeming barcodes from Trix cereal. (Tangent: USCF should go back to Cat. 1 audits where you have to have at least a top 10 in a qualifing race to maintian your Cat. 1.) Or Cat. 1's have to qualify through state championships. Can you imagine the turnout if state roads meant a trip to "USPRO"?
"USPRO" would have the 60 so paid pros, plus 50 Cat 1's (who are most of the D3 guys now). I argue guys like yourself,Harward and a few others are stronger than a bunch of the D3 "pros". Shouldn't you have the chance to go to US nationals over those chumps?
(Que: Dream sequence back to reality)

Can you explain to me the reason the US has more Continetal teams than Italian, France and Spain combined? Is US cycling stronger than those three countries put together? Do we have three times the number of quality riders?

PS: Please don't respond unless you listen to a Nitzer Ebb or Ministry CD (and I'm not talkng the Everyday is Halloween crap, I'm talking hard core Industrial shit like A Mind is a Terrible Thing to Taste)

Todd "give me my old USCF number back" Hageman
# February 8, 2006 1:53 PM

Ryan Barrett said:

I have nothing to really argue here, but I need to get the last word in. I do think sending individuals (by way of state champs) to a team event is pretty much a joke in terms of their being able to get a result, but having a crappy team
To the outside reader, I think Todd and I agree on most of this stuff and both like playing devil's advocate.
To Todd, industrial sucks.
# February 9, 2006 10:30 AM
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