18 August 2011 –  Three of the four Team RadioShack leaders who were hit by crashes and bad luck during the Tour de France last month are back on the bike and ready to win again.  Jani Brajkovic and Andreas Klöden will start on Saturday as the leaders of Team RadioShack in the 66th Tour of Spain. In the USA, Levi Leipheimer aims to win the USA Pro Cycling Challenge (Tour of Colorado).  The 2011 Tour of California champion Chris Horner is still recovering from his race-ending crash in the Tour de France and is not yet able to race. 

“During the Tour de France our fans all knew that crashes got the best of us,” said  Manager Johan Bruyneel.  “One month later only the names of the winners stay in their minds.  But part three of the cycling season starts now and it’s time for us to show our real value again and to show the Team RadioShack jerseys on the podiums. Levi, Andreas and Jani have recovered from their injuries. They are ready to show how they could have performed in July. Cycling is not an exact science. Being in the condition of your life in July doesn’t mean you will have the same form one month later. The courses are different and the other riders are different. However I am confident we can surprise again. The results of the last few weeks in Wallonie, Eneco Tour and Utah make me optimistic.”

Andreas Klöden and Jani Brajkovic start as the leaders in Benidorm on Saturday. “Andreas is one of the most professional riders I have ever worked with,” continued Bruyneel. “In 2011 he was never sick and he was really ready for maybe his best Tour de France ever. If his back injury doesn’t flare up again, he should be able to place very high in Madrid. Together with Jani, who showed good form last week in the Tour of Utah, he can be part of a dangerous duo. And don’t forget Tiago Machado. Tiago learned a lot in the Tour of Italy this year. It was a very hard Giro. Maybe a bit too hard for being his first Grand Tour, but he recovered well. Now he has no pressure on his shoulders. On the contrary, he can be the perfect team player and look for some opportunities in the mountains.”

American US Pro champion Matthew Busche will start in his first Grand Tour in Spain and will be absent from the USA Pro Cycling Challenge in Colorado.  Levi Leipheimer will be there as the leader of Team RadioShack and also one of the favorites.

“The characteristics of the race suit Levi well, but the competition will be very hard in this new Tour of Colorado. Cadel Evans, Frank and Andy Schleck, Robert Gesink and Tom Danielson will all be motivated too. It’s going to be an interesting month of September.  I look forward to it. It would be nice to offer RadioShack, Nissan, our other sponsors and all the fans an extra victory as a thank you for the trust they have had in us,” concluded Bruyneel.

The team line-up for the next races:

Tour of Spain, 20/08-11/09/11

Riders; Jani Brajkovic, Matthew Busche, Markel Irizar, Andreas Klöden, Geoffroy Lequatre, Tiago Machado, Nelson Oliveira, Sérgio Paulinho & Haimar Zubeldia
Directors: Viatcheslav Ekimov & José Azevedo

Vattenfall Cyclassics / Hamburg (Germany), 21/08/11

Riders: Fumiyuki Beppu, Sam Bewley, Manuel Cardoso, Robert Hunter, Michal Kwiatkowski, Robbie McEwen & Gregory Rast
Director: Dirk Demol

USA Pro Cycling Challenge (Colorado, USA), 22-28/08/11

Riders: George Bennett, Philip Deignan, Ben Hermans, Ben King, Levi Leipheimer, Jason McCartney, Dmitriy Muravyev, Ivan Rovny
Directors: Alain Gallopin & Axel Merckx

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26 July 2011 –  Team RadioShack’s Robbie McEwen (39) took his first victory of the season by beating Alexander Kristoff and Yauheni Hutarovich in a mass sprint in the fourth stage of the Tour de Wallonie.

“The guys did a really good job staying in the front and keeping myself and Manuel Cardoso out of the wind and up where we needed to be,” explained a happy McEwen after a fast stage with the finish in Mouscron. “Towards the end and in the final, Bjørn Selander did a good job for me, keeping me in position and out of the wind and following my instructions right until the last 1.5 kilometer where I took Bennati’s wheel on the lead out of Leopard-Trek. I was originally going to pull the sprint for Cardoso since the team worked for me yesterday and it didn’t work out.  But I was in the perfect position and Manuel lost some positions at the crucial moment, so we had to cut to plan B. That plan was pretty good.”

Team director Viatcheslav Ekimov agreed.  “I see a very motivated Team RadioShack in this race. There is no pressure but they all want to show something. The team has to leave behind the bad luck we had in the Tour de France. Earlier this week Ben Hermans was already close to a stage victory too. This is nice.”

Robbie McEwen is a triple winner of the Tour de France's green jersey sprinter’s classification. He has twelve stage wins in the Tour the France, another twelve in the Tour of Italy, plus five wins in Paris-Brussels. This season he aims to win the rainbow jersey for Team RadioShack at the World Championships in Copenhagen in September.

“I didn’t see much of the Tour de France as I was concentrated on my own training,” continued McEwen. “I just trained at home easy for a week, then I went to the South of France and trained a lot in the hills. Just four hours a day, medium tempo, just building up my condition. A week before this race, back in Belgium I trained in the hills of the Flemish Ardennes and planned to used this Tour de Wallonie to get some rhythm back again. Apparently I found my rhythm quite quickly. This is promising for the next couple of months. I am still very ambitious.  Since the beginning of the season the World Championships in Copenhagen is a big objective. I think I can do a big preparation by doing this race and races like Eneco Tour, Hamburg, Plouay and Fourmies. I just need to be selected now. Hopefully that will be the case.”

Result Stage 4: Engien-Mouscron, 151.6 km
1 Robbie McEwen (Team RadioShack) 3:21:53;  2 Alexander Kristoff;  3 Yauheni Hutarovich;  4 Michael Van Staeyen;  5 Kenny Dehaes;  6 Kristof Goddaert;  7 Jonas Vangenechten;  8 Greg Van Avermaet;  9 Daniele Bennati;  10 Joost van Leijen

General Classification after four stages:
1 Greg Van Avermaet 17:30:08;  2 Joost van Leijen;  3 Ben Hermans (Team RadioShack) 0:16;  4 Nikolay Trusov 0:17;  5 Michal Golas 0:20;  6 Edwig Cammaerts;  7 Thomas Degand;  8 Bert De Waele;  9 Koen de Kort 0:2;  10 Nikolas Maes 0:26

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 Sometimes when I get tired all I want to do is look at pictures, not words. Also, my sister and I are in the midst of writing a children's book and I need to practise my children's writing skills. So I enlisted the help of Greg Long from Greg Long Photography, and my VIS teammate Sarah Roy's 'Memoroys', to tell the story of the Famous Five (aka the Jayco-VIS girls Kendelle, Roy, Jo, Lisa and their coach Donna)  at the Canberra Tour:

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Q. Markel, congratulations on your win in the Ruta del Sol! How did you feel when you got the win?

 AUSTIN, Texas, Jan. 12, 2010 – Team RadioShack, headed by seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, will have a new look for fans next week.  The team, known for making some bold statements with their race jerseys, will unveil its new 2011 team kit during Team RadioShack’s first competition this season, the Santos Tour Down Under, Jan. 16-23 in Adelaide, Australia.

December 23, 2010 – Sprinters Robbie McEwen and Robbie Hunter are joining Team RadioShack in 2011. Both riders were part of the Pegasus Sports project which failed to get a ProTour or Professional Continental license for the upcoming season and opted to change teams.  The negotiations between the Team and riders were settled promptly with both riders keen on joining the team of Manager Johan Bruyneel and seven-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong. Australian Robbie McEwen is a triple winner of the Tour de France's green jersey sprinter’s classification. Robbie Hunter became the first South African to compete in the Tour de France. Later he was the first South African rider to win a stage in the Tour.


“The two Robbie’s fit perfectly in our group, which is a mixture of experienced and young riders,” explained Johan Bruyneel.  “I feel sad for the riders and staff of the Pegasus project, but most of the riders deserve to race at the highest level of professional cycling. I am happy to have been able to offer two of the guys that opportunity. Moreover, we can really use both riders; they are real finishers and winners. They are both very fast and don’t need a real sprinter’s train to bring them to the last kilometer. They are ‘self-sufficient’ and will also be a wealth of knowledge for our young riders.”


“We were interested in both riders and they were interested in racing for our team. It still took some days to finalize the agreements as our budget for 2011 was almost closed. We had to redo our homework and we will have to economize on some other aspects but it will be worth it,” continued Bruyneel.  “Robbie McEwen is not the youngest guy in the peloton, but in our team we know exactly what riders are capable of at a certain age. Robbie proved this year that he is still able to win ProTour races. Moreover, I count on him to help our very young, talented riders in the team find their way in the peloton. As far as Robbie Hunter is concerned, we welcome him in the Team a year later than planned as we had we wanted him for Team RadioShack at the end of 2009.  Finally our patience paid off.”


Robbie McEwen (38) reacted with delight from the Gold Coast in Australia: “It is a relief  that I have secured a contract with Team RadioShack, obviously one of the best teams in the world where I can ride at the ProTour level in what I’m planning to be my last year as a professional.  When it became obvious that I had to look for another team,  Team RadioShack really was my first choice. That’s why I contacted Lance. Afterwards Johan Bruyneel offered me the environment I was looking for. I am happy and grateful. I still know and believe that I am one of the fastest sprinters in the world. The young guys like Cavendish, Farrar or Greipel are tough to beat but I know that I am still amongst that group of elite sprinters. I still have a lot to offer. I just don’t want to ride one more year just to ride along in the bunch. I want to perform well and go away on a high.”

McEwen has twelve stage wins in the Tour the France, another twelve in the Tour of Italy, plus  five wins in Paris-Brussels.  Even through the last weeks of uncertainty he has been training hard. “I wanted to get in shape for the Tour Down Under but I also want to perform well in the whole season, whether it is for Down Under, the Giro, the Tour or wherever and with a big goal: the World Championships in Copenhagen.”


South African Robbie Hunter (33) was as delighted: “I am happy to have found a team so soon after the collapse of the Pegasus Sports project. The Australians really had a nice project. I was looking forward to being part of their Team, but for me it was not an option to race on a continental team. I am still too ambitious. Team RadioShack suits me very well. As the Team didn’t have many sprinters I will have my place over there. The Team Directors know exactly what I am worth in a team. I’ve proved in the past that I have no problem sacrificing my chances for another rider, as I did last year for Tylar Farrar. Also in 2011 the Team can count on me and I know that they will give me the opportunity to do my own sprints too.”


Hunter has won more than 40 races in his professional career, including stages in the Tour the France, Tour of Spain and Tour de Georgia as well as the Overall Classification of the Tour of Qatar. “Every year I win my races. I will continue winning. I will be ready for the stage races and the classics. I like the spirit of Team RadioShack and I know a lot of the guys, especially Gregory Rast as he is my regular training mate.”


The members of the 2011 squad (29 riders, 17 nationalities) are: 
Lance Armstrong (USA), Fumiyuki Beppu (Japan), Sam Bewley (New Zealand), Jani Brajkovic (Slovenia), Matthew Busche (USA), Manuel Cardoso (Portugal), Philip Deignan (Ireland), Ben Hermans (Belgium), Chris Horner (USA), Robbie Hunter (South Africia), Markel Irizar (Spain), Ben King (USA), Andreas Klöden (Germany), Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland), Levi Leipheimer (USA), Geoffroy Lequatre (France), Tiago Machado (Portugal), Jason McCartney (USA), Robbie McEwen (Australia), Dmitriy Muravyev (Kazakhstan), Nélson Oliveira (Portugal), Sérgio Paulinho (Portugal), Yaroslav Popovych (Ukraine), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Sébastien Rosseler (Belgium), Ivan Rovny (Russia), Jesse Sergent (New Zealand, Bjørn Selander (USA) and  Haimar Zubeldia (Spain). 
Directors: Johan Bruyneel (Belgium), José Azevedo (Portugal), Dirk Demol (Belgium), Viatcheslav Ekimov (Russia) and Alain Gallopin ( France).

 

Q. Jesse, congratulations on being promoted to the Radioshack squad! You’re going to be a stagier, what does this mean for the rest of your season?

A.It means that im riding for Radioshack for the remainder of the season to see how I cope with the level of racing.

Q. What was your reaction to the announcement, and who gave you the news?

A.It had been talked about for a while and it was Axel Merckx and Dirk Dermol who spoke to me at Olympias Tour in Holland in May about the end of the year opportunities.

Q. Since you joined the Under 23 Trek – Livestrong team last year, how hard have you worked to try and get an opportunity with the Radioshack squad?

A.Its always been a goal of mine to turn pro and theres been periods when I thought it wasn't achievable but the last 2 years being under the help and guidance of the Trek-Livestrong team and Axel Merckx has made it
possible.

Q. You have mentioned before about how much you have learned in the past year, do you think there will be much of an opportunity to try and utilise the experience of guys like Levi & Kloden in the upcoming races?

A.Yes thats true I've learnt a lot about myself and racing in the States and in Europe in the last 2 years, but I know I have alot to go and racing with the pro's is a completely different level. I am excited about the opportunity to race and learn with the riders from Radioshack as they're all great riders and I can learn a lot from them.

Q. With the Tour of Denmark coming up, how do you feel your form is going in
to it?

A.My season started early with road nationals in the first week of January, but I've just had a break at home in New Zealand and took a week off the bike, I then returned back to the States and raced the Cascade Classic, a 6
day tour, and have been training and feeling good so I hope my form is coming up and I will be at a good level to race well!

Q. What does it mean to you to ride with Radioshack for the rest of this season?

A.It means a lot, I like to see progression with training, power, everything as it's motivating so to race for the pro tour team Radioshack is huge for me and it's progression from the u23 team Trek Livestrong.


Q. What are your goals for your time in the Radioshack squad?

A.The main thing is to learn and see what it takes to be competitive in the pro ranks, I'm excited to see how a team like Radioshack work and the way they go about racing.

Q. Since the announcement, how many people have asked you to get Lance’s autograph!!??

A.Haha alot but fair enough really!

And finally...

Q. If you could only eat one food for the rest of your life, what would it be and why??

A. Lasagne


Cheers,