As the members of Team RadioShack conclude their travel from the four corners to arrive in Calpe, Spain to begin their training camp (first team ride was today), Lance Armstrong’s development team, Trek Livestrong (TLS), has also been in travel mode.
Eight TLS riders are gathering for the Tour of Qatar (http://www.letour.fr/2010/TQA/COURSE/us/le_parcours.html), a six day stage race that will cover 704 kilometers in the middle-east emirate located on the Qatar Peninsula, jutting out from southeast coast of Saudi Arabia. According to posts from Axel Merckx (TLS team manager), Jesse Sergent, Justin Williams, and others, the team has pretty much arrived and is now making final preparations for their first race of the 2010 season. And quite an opportunity TLS will have!
Beginning Sunday (7 February) and running through Friday (12 February), the 2010 Tour of Qatar is organized by the Qatar Cycling Federation with technical and sports-related assistance from Amaury Sport Organization (ASO) under International Cycling Union regulations. TLS will find itself up against fifteen other teams in all, with some of professional cycling’s best teams and top riders. Included in the Start List announced for the race are none other than Tom Boonen with QuickStep, Fabian Cancellara with Team Saxo Bank, Tyler Farrar with Garmin-Transitions, and Bradley Wiggins of Team Sky, to note a few.
Named to the TLS start list are Taylor Phinney, Cody Campbell, Alex Dowsett, Benjamin King, Benjamin King, Julian Kyer, Jesse Sergent, and Justin Williams. Phinney was quoted in a recent Cycling News article as saying he was looking forward to “mixing it up with the big guys” such as Boonen and Cancellara. Phinney also mentioned the team’s recent camp in Solvang, California, where the riders practiced specifically for team time trialing (the first day’s event to be held in Al Khor Conriche, West Bay Lagoon). No promises, but they’ll be bringing their A-game, it sounds like. Phinney, along with Sergent and Dowsett, will be leading the effort.
The team’s plenty motivated, but also seemingly loose and relaxed, based on the various tweets the riders have been posting. It should be fun to hear the results of the U23 team’s efforts up against many of the major teams from the Pro Tour. Over the next week we’ll see how TLS measures up and what sort of tempo they establish for their season. Go, boys, GO!
By Jeff Ludlum, staff writer
Garmin-Transitions? I’d just gotten used to Garmin-Slipstream.
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