Your 2009 Pro Tour Lineup

by Chris... on Nov 26, 2008 7:31 PM EST in News

A couple days ago the UCI helpfully announced that seven new teams had been invited to join the Pro Tour. I spent about an hour trying to find the remaining nine, starting (foolishly) with the UCI Pro Tour website, to no avail. But Cycling News has come through with the final list, including two last inclusions, bringing the total to 18:

AG2R - La Mondiale (Fra)
Astana (Kaz)
BBox Bouygues Telecom (Fra)
Caisse d'Epargne (Spa)
Cofidis (Fra)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa)
Française des Jeux (Fra)
Garmin-Slipstream (USA)
Katyusha (Rus)
Lampre-N.G.C. (Ita)
Liquigas (Ita)
Team Milram (Ger)
Quick Step (Bel)
Rabobank (Ned)
Fuji-Servetto (Spa)
Saxo Bank - IT Factory (Den)
Silence-Lotto (Bel)
Team Columbia (USA)

No real surprises here. Credit Ag and Gerolsteiner are gone. CSC is Saxo; Saunier Duval is Fuji; Katyusha and Garmin are newcomers. Wasn't 18 the number several of us were suggesting about three years ago, when Pat McQuaid went nuclear on the grand tours and added Astana and Barloworld?

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Is it Katyusha or Katusha ??

I’ve seen it spelt both ways on many occasions..

Also i’d like to point out my inside gossip from a while back about Katusha coming to TDU, was true… love it..

We don't stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.
George Bernard Shaw, 1856-1950

by CycleGirl on Nov 26, 2008 7:45 PM EST 0 recs

Depends how you transliterate it from the Cyrillic.....it can be either.

The Dutch call them Katjoesja.

by Albertina on Nov 26, 2008 7:51 PM EST up 0 recs

I'm going

with Katyusha, but apparently you can justify either, since we’re converting from Cyrillic.

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris... on Nov 26, 2008 7:51 PM EST up 0 recs

If they are anglicized,

it will probably be Katusha.

by dheadrick on Nov 27, 2008 11:44 PM EST up 0 recs

Odd to see

that Russia and Kazakhstan have as many teams as Germany, and the US has more. (Although technically I thought Astana was registered in Switzerland or some other country)

And Chris, no matter how you spell Katyusha, please don’t link to that song again!

by Katiek on Nov 26, 2008 8:31 PM EST 0 recs

last year astana was registered in Luxembourg

by lyne on Nov 28, 2008 12:38 AM EST up 0 recs

Budgets!

I want numbers! Make it happen! I want to know who’s really competing here!

by ursula on Nov 26, 2008 8:43 PM EST 0 recs

I know this has been asked before,

but can someone please explain how Basso can ride for a PT squad. I thought he couldn’t be part of a PT team for FOUR years. I didn’t think this was much of an issue, as Leaky was NOT going to be part of the PT( as of last summer). Now they are. I’m so damn confused. Did the fine print say that the original ban had to have been a full two year suspension in order for the 4 year ban to apply? By extension, does this imply that every rider busted doping gets to return to a PT team, as long as the original suspension was less than two years. Or, does the UCI just arbitrarily make this shit up on the fly? What gives?

by The Team Chef on Nov 26, 2008 9:14 PM EST 0 recs

wasn't there an organization of PT teams?

I thought the 4yr ban was the collective agreement of whatever the former coalition/organization of PT teams used to be, not particularly a UCI rule. Then various teams pulled out of the PT team organization so it basically collapsed (IIRC), so whatever rules or guidelines its members were supposed to follow wouldn’t actually exist anymore…

by guidemd on Nov 26, 2008 10:32 PM EST up 0 recs

Right.. The ITPC I though.

Some say the best things in life, are one the inside.

by Frinking on Nov 27, 2008 6:44 AM EST up 0 recs

Thanks. Now it's coming back to me.

This was the same group that was all pissed off at Bruyneel when he hired Basso to ride for Disco prior to the Puerto suspension.

by The Team Chef on Nov 27, 2008 1:17 PM EST up 0 recs

See, cycling aint doing that bad

you have just as many teams in the PT next year as there were this year. Sure two teams died, but one potential future powerhouse was born, and even one drug scandalized team found a bunch of new sponsors. Sure it’s struggling in some areas, especially Deutschland, but overall cycling seems to be doing alright.

"If you go (with a break), you can either win or not win. If you don't go for it, you definitely won't win."
~ Jens Voigt

by Phil H. on Nov 26, 2008 11:08 PM EST 0 recs

What happened to Chipotle?

Have they bowed out?

by Albertina on Nov 27, 2008 8:25 AM EST 0 recs

Chipotle -- involved but not US$1m+

Looks like the economics of ProTour were a bit steep for Chipotle to stay on the title. Free burritos for the year in the super-premium fan club ;)

"In addition to its ProTour status for 2009, the most apparent changes in the team’s identity are found in its top-level sponsorships. For 2009 the team will be called Garmin-Slipstream. Longtime team sponsor Chipotle remains involved, however not at the co-title level, which Vaughters said the team now values at well into seven figures. Also, the team’s 2008 presenting sponsor, H30, is now referred to as Holowesko Partners. "

http://www.velonews.com/article/85351

by hkbirke on Nov 27, 2008 10:42 AM EST up 0 recs

Ah right, thanks.

So is their full name now ‘Garmin-Slipstream presented by Holowesko Partners’? That’s quite a mouthful!

by Albertina on Nov 27, 2008 11:19 AM EST up 0 recs

Garmin-your name here

Somehow I’m thinking JV’s working on something to replace Slipstream. Perhaps a US agricultural firm like “Shamrock” — Just imagine the kit with the arygle cloverleafs :) Little risk of Burger King and the whatever that horrid purple blouse is called with Chipotle still in the mix.

by hkbirke on Nov 28, 2008 8:25 PM EST up 0 recs

It's not like Chipotle didn't have the money...

they are owned by McDonalds.

by dheadrick on Nov 27, 2008 11:46 PM EST up 0 recs

Not anymore

they sold their whole stake in Chipotle in 2006.

"If you go (with a break), you can either win or not win. If you don't go for it, you definitely won't win."
~ Jens Voigt

by Phil H. on Nov 27, 2008 11:55 PM EST up 0 recs

That's

disturbing

CQRanking.com, you complete me.

by Chris... on Nov 28, 2008 10:37 AM EST up 0 recs

CMG: not the prettiest 12mon stock trace

Its a little ugly, suspecting the marketing $$ are a little tough to come by — especially since the amount for the PT name is prob quite a bit more than the PC name.

I’d love to think a cycling team is a far better return on the buck in the States (where Chipotle’s are primarily located), but it would seem that the hood of a Nationwide Car or ??? Truck would be a lot more exposure. Little chance of missing the race this year too.

by hkbirke on Nov 28, 2008 8:35 PM EST up 0 recs

Who will be the first team to have a doping scandal?

Isn’t that in the back of all our minds? Hopefully none. But it does look to be an exciting year with Lance back, VandeVelde’s higher expectations, and Boonen battling Cavendish.

Garmin-? will always be Team Chipolte to me. Burritos are the roots of the team, and are the secret ingredient that bonds the team together.

by The Long Emergency on Nov 29, 2008 10:04 PM EST 0 recs