Garmin-Cervélo To Include Women's Pro Team
by Jen See on Aug 27, 2010 3:29 PM EDT
in News
Email
Print
With the news that Cervélo TestTeam has decided to merge with Garmin-Transitions, the fate of the mighty Cervélo women's team has remained uncertain. Wonder no longer. A press release from Garmin today confirms that the new team to be known as Garmin-Cervélo will include a women's professional team. In the press release, Jonathan Vaughters confirms, "we are extremely excited to create a very good women's program." The Garmin-Cervélo team will also continue to support the U23 Howolesko Partners development team. According to the press release, we can expect more detailed information about the new team's rosters in the October time frame.
The continuation of the Cervélo women's team is big news for women's cycling, as the team is one of the "bigs" in the sport. Emma Pooley from Cervélo and Ina-Yoko Teutenberg HTC-Columbia have both emphasized the benefits their women's teams receive from their relationships with the men's professional teams. The support staff and equipment sponsors, in particular, offer a big step up for the women lucky enough to ride for Cervélo and HTC-Columbia. Losing the Cervélo team would have been a huge blow to women's cycling as the sponsorship and support structure of the team would have been difficult to replicate.
A new Garmin-Cervélo women's team raises some intriguing questions. Will the women's team continue with its current roster? Will Garmin want to give the team a more American flavor both in terms of the riders and the races they contest? No doubt these details remain undecided. For now, it's very welcome news that Slipstream has committed to including a women's team in the new project.
52 comments
|
1 recs |
Do you like this story?
Comments
I think we need some sort of samples so that we can compare
But more pink is better
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 27, 2010 4:01 PM EDT up reply actions
Almost
Change “what a woman ought to think” to “what men and women ought to think”.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 27, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
After the utter disappointment
that was Murilo Fischer’s Brazilian champ jersey, they better make it really, really loud. I like my argyle to be painfully colour-clashing.
Well Done
A toast to doing the right thing.
"It was getting colder and colder as we went up. About halfway up, I started to go a little backwards and as I passed Thor he looked at me and said, "If you lose my wheel I will smash you." I took his wheel and found an extra gear." João Correia
More from Shane Stokes
Shane Stokes SSbike
Just spoke to Jonathan Vaughters – confirms the core of the Cervelo women’s team should be on the Garmin women’s team next year..
OK
up til now I found it rather confusing as to whether this was a brand new thing or a continuation of CTT. More the latter, it seems.
"Good thing I never said out loud that I was pulling for France, before this all started." -Mark Blacknell
by Chris Fontecchio on Aug 27, 2010 4:09 PM EDT up reply actions
more a matter of
the women’s team not getting lost in the merging. which, i was very much afraid would happen.
I wonder if Emma Pooley will stick around
I read an interview with her a couple of years back that said that she chose to ride with Cervelo because she was based in Switzerland and wanted to ride for a local squad. I’m still not sure how much of a full-time all-year pro she is.
Yes indeed
Mind you, the press release kind of implies Cervélo women’s team will be business as usual for 2011…. which is good – they’ll have so much to do oon the men’s side, maybe they can take an “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” approach to the women’s, and let Van Kessel just carry on???
by Sarah Connolly on Aug 29, 2010 6:22 AM EDT up reply actions
alright!
"Ants don’t worry, they operate like a fantastic team, they accept obstacles and deal with them in a positive manner, they don’t complain and remain positive. An ant doesn’t work on emotion, is proactive and always chooses the ant role."
Velonation have more
"I think that the core of the team will stay together. They will have a similar racing programme to this year, and Egon Van Kessel will continue as the directeur sportif. It should be one of the best women’s programmes in the world."
So hopefully they won’t have the problems HTC have, sending riders back & forth across the ocean, missing big Euro races for USA domestic…
This is such good news – and with Geox sponsoring Safi (and, I’ve been told, expanding it) we end the week with 3 pro teams having women’s teams, as well as Lotto sponsoring a women’s team too
Now, as long as we can persuade them to keep the classy Cervélo kit….
"Now, as long as we can persuade them to keep the classy Cervélo kit…."
Amen. Alas, most of the thread seems to want some pink floral argyle number.
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Either classy Cervélo or totally ridiculous pink argyle.
Just nothing in between. I’m all for extremes on this one.
Oh, oh, plus Leontien.nl/AA Drinks expansion...
Now all we need is to hear Tour de l’Aude and Route de France are safe, and it might feel like women’s racing is edging away from the crisis point
by Sarah Connolly on Aug 27, 2010 5:20 PM EDT up reply actions
I feel if there were ANY ProTour requirment the UCI should implement . . .
. . . it should be the IF you want to got Pro Tour, then you need to have a womens squad also.
Assuming that the willingness to be a ProTour team is big enough
for it to work. And I’m not so sure about that.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 29, 2010 7:10 AM EDT up reply actions
I don't think there is any other option now.
This is why Cervelo Test Team ended.
The loopholes have now been closed off dramatically.
Really?
And you base this on what? It’s not like ProTour is rock solid, if the costs increase too much the teams will of course consider opting out. Bweeg and Cofidis have already done it once, why not again?
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 30, 2010 3:17 AM EDT up reply actions
Bweeg and Cofidis have the advantage of being french
The world would pretty much have to come to an end for them to miss out on the races that are most important to them. Others don’t have that advantage. We’ll see how 2011 plays out but I think Ryan is right here.
Right about what?
All I’m saying is that the teams will respond to increasing costs. Some teams seem to be on the limit already (most notably Euskaltel). Perhaps the most likely scenario is that the ProTour teams will incorporate some existing female teams, and that it won’t make much of a difference. Except that Euskaltel-Bizkaia-Durango gets rid of all on- Basque riders.
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 30, 2010 4:00 AM EDT up reply actions
Fundamentally, i do not agree with the entire structure the UCI is implementing with Team Levels and what races they can & cannot be in; and I see this simply as the next play on the ASO~UCi chess game.
But, now that the move has been made, I do not see the possibility of opting out if the team is intending to race at the level Cervelo Test Team has done for the last few years.
There is just no way in doing this now.
Oh, there wil be some small french teams in the Tour, and Italian teams in the Giro, and the Spanish in the Vuelta, but the classics are gone and tour those slots are ‘iffy’ at best.
Yes, I think you will be correct that the likely scenario is "ProTour teams will incorporate some existing female teams . . ", but the good side to that is IF there is an actual requirement for these women’s teams, they would also benefit from the added security that only the Pro Tour teams have right now.
Like real paychecks, and confidence they will be paid all year.
And this is a free lunch?
Badger, badger, badger, badger, badger, badger...
by TheFigurehead on Aug 30, 2010 6:42 AM EDT up reply actions
That new clause is quite nasty
it says that any non-PT teams trying to get entry to the top races via the top 17 rule have to pay an extra fee to the UCI. The effect will be to make it more expensive to be a non-ProTour top 17 than to be ProTour so should push those nasty freeloading Pro-Conti teams out of those 17 places. What effect that has on the Pro-Conti level is yet to be see, but with the French teams being rejected for ProTour status, we could in return see ASO give all the Tour wildcards to domestic teams. And so on…
oh, and
I have an idea for what Cervélo could do with the £ they’re not spending on the men’s team – provide support to re-establish Tour & World Cup Montréal…. or better yet, how does La Vuelta Feminina sound?
and another thing!
Cervélo had sent a crew to film Vargarda – could Gav use her clever contacts to find out if they’ll be making a bartape film for the women? I imagine it could be a bloody good marketing tool…..
Please yes
please please yes. I’ve wanted to see that side of the team’s operation in their documentaries for a long time.
by Douglas Ansel on Aug 27, 2010 6:43 PM EDT up reply actions
Nice design for the men's team, I think.
"I was just trying to keep warm" - Ian Stannard on finishing third in KBK
Did you mean to say Transitions?
For now, it’s very welcome news that Slipstream has committed to including a women’s team in the new project."
Or am I missing something?
I bet I’m missing something. :)
Jens! doesn’t have a shadow because he dropped it repeatedly until it retired, climbing into the CSC team car and claiming a stomach ailment.
by dees ees en drama on Aug 28, 2010 2:25 AM EDT reply actions
Slipstream commits
How they finance it, with which sponsors is another matter. Presumably Cervélo are providing enough funds to make it work. Transitions future seems up in the air, they may still stay on for a smaller amount now they will not be namesponsors.
I wonder if Cervélo will bring Tata too?
by Sarah Connolly on Aug 28, 2010 6:15 AM EDT up reply actions
I can imagine the issue is similar
They got good visibility at presumably a fairly low cost. It’s not that certain that they would be interested in investing when they don’t get that good exposure? Completely new circumstances.
Transitions will continue as a sponsor
but the new team will be Garmin-Cervélo. Not sure if that answers your question?
More from Velonation:
According to Vaughters, that talent will also include many of the female riders who lined out with the Swiss team this year. Cervélo backed a women’s team before setting up the men’s squad, and that commitment remains in place.
"I think it is great the Cervélo bike company gave us the sponsorship we need to be able to run a women’s team," he said. "It is something that we wanted to do for a while, but we never had the resources to do it. The bike company is giving us the resources to make this women’s team happen, and we are also relying on their expertise to help us find the way, as regards staff and riders and how to organise it. I believe it is big win.
"I think that the core of the team will stay together. They will have a similar racing programme to this year, and Egon Van Kessel will continue as the directeur sportif. It should be one of the best women’s programmes in the world."
Comments For This Post Are Closed
Secondary Sidebar
User Tools
FanPosts
Community blog posts and discussion.
Recent FanPosts
Featured Stories
FanShots
Quick hits of video, photos, quotes, chats, links and lists that you find around the web.
Recommended FanShots
Recent FanShots
![This is funny on so many levels. [Html should open bigger]](http://cdn3.sbnation.com/fan_shot_images/239959/flagged_small.jpg)
Certain photos copyright © 2012 by Associated Press or Getty Images. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of Associated Press and Getty Images is strictly prohibited.
