With its UCI ProTour status confirmed for next season, new United States based Team RadioShack will commence its inaugural season with the goal of becoming cycling’s next super-powers.
Led by 7-time Tour de France winner Lance Armstrong, the team, co-sponsored by American company RadioShack and Armstrong’s own Livestrong foundation figures to be a force in many of cycling’s main attractions and most notably the Tour de France.
They will hit the road under the direction of one of the best, with nine-time Tour winning director Johan Bruyneel signed on to manage the team. Arguably the best directeur sportif in modern cycling, Bruyneel piloted Armstrong’s US Postal/Discovery Channel teams during their seven consecutive triumphs between 1999 and 2005 along with Alberto Contador’s 2007 and 2009 wins.
Since the RadioShack venture was announced in July the team has built a strong roster with many outstanding individual talents and their sights set on bringing home the maillot jaune next season.
Armstrong and Bruyneel have brought many of their Astana colleagues from 2009 with them to the new squad, most notably American Levi Leipheimer and German Andreas Kloden, who has twice finished on the podium at the Tour. Also making the switch from the Kazakh-based squad are super-domestiques Yaroslav Popovych and Haimar Zubeldia, along with Sergio Paulinho, Chris Horner, Gregory Rast, Jose Luis Rubiera, Tomas Vaitkus, Dmitriy Muravyev and Janez Brajkovi?.
Adding depth to the squad are handy riders Jason McCartney (Saxo Bank), winner of the mountains classification at the 2009 Amgen Tour of California, and Gert Steegmans (Katusha) as well as young talents Bjorn Selander and Sam Bewley (both Trek Livestrong U23) and Ben Hermans (Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator).
The team will open the season at the Tour Down Under in January, with Armstrong and Popovych heading to Australia to open their campaigns.
However there are a lot of kilometers to be cycled before the main event, a mountainous Tour de France with an imminent showdown between Armstrong, Contador and Andy Schleck that is likely to be decided high in the Pyrenees next summer.
What happens in France next year remains to be seen, but it is sure to make for an intriguing season and possibly an eighth Tour title for one of cycling’s greatest.
By Michael Johnson, staff writer
Solid team. Like the combination of young and experienced riders.
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Michael, I liked your piece but please research the teammates your going to write about so their names are correct; Jani desires better treatment. Thanks and I look forward to reading more of your postings.
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Awesome . . . this team is built to win and it is going to be a fun ride for sure. How soon will the new kits be available?
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